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HISTORY 

OF THE 

HAWAIIAN OR SANDWICH ISLANDS, 

EMBRACING THEIR 

ANTIQUITIES, LEGENDS, DISCOVERS BY EUROPEANS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURT, 

RE-DISCOVERY BY COOK, -WITH THEIR CIVIL, RELIGIOUS, AND POLITICAL 

HISTORY, FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



BY JAMES JACKSON JARVES, 

Member of the Am. Oriental Society. 
With Maps and Plates. 

PUBLISHED BY JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY 
134 Washington-Street, Boston. 



' The book is carefully prepared and furnishes a highly attractive 
narrative. The ground over which the author has passed has been 
almost entirely untrod before him, and the history will be quite 
new, we believe, to almost all readers. It is a history full of its 
passages of romance, — for these islands have not been exempted 
from the stirring excitements of larger communities.' — Boston 
Daily Advertise?: 

' The work bears the marks of great attention and patient research ; 
the narrative is easy, flowing, and spirited, in a style adapted to the 
subject.' — Philadelphia Christian Observer. 

' Mr. J. has produced an excellent and permanently valuable book.' 
— Boston Recorder. 

' It supplies a deficiency in our literature, and is finished in such 
a manner that it will not have to be done again. This work will 
be a favorite; it affords information not easily found elsewhere, and 
if attainable at all, only to be collected by great labor, and from a 
variety of sources.' — Baptist Memorial and Monthly Chronicle. 

' There is always something intensely interesting in watching the 
gradual development of civilization in any country, and we know 
of none of the little green spots of earth rising out of the bosom of 
the ocean for the habitations of man, where this is more true than 
of the Sandwich Islands. Considered as bearing upon the interests 
of France, England, and America, these islands are of vast political 
importance, yet to the eye of the philanthropist and the philosopher, 
they furnish other material of abundant speculation and contem- 
plation ; and the history Mr Jas. J. Jarves has here given us is as 
really interesting in its arrangement and management as in its ma- 
terial. Writing from personal observation, we have a faithful de- 
scription from the best means of its attainments, since no hearsay 
evidence can equal that of the bodily organs ; and while the present 
is displayed in the colors of existing truth, the past has been nar- 
rowly investigated to furnish its own history. Thus, Mr. Jarves has 
produced a really capable and interesting work, into which is 
crowded a vast muss of information, of which, perhaps, the most 
important feature is the theology of the land, though its domestic 
usages might seem to rival such a preference.' — London Metropolitan 
Magazine. 



HISTORY OF THE HAWAIIAN OR SANDWICH ISLANDS. 

1 The history before us is drawn up with a philosophic spirit, 
and is ably written from authentic materials.' — Polytechnic Review. 

'The book is cleverly written, and we have read it with interest. 
It has merit of an enduring kind, and commends itself to attention 
on general grounds.' — London Examiner. 

1 The volume abounds in valuable information.' — London Inquirer. 

'This book possesses merit, and is of both value and interest, as 
a fresh and faithful picture of a group of the human family placed 
under very peculiar circumstances.' — TciiCs Edinburgh Magazine. 

4 The work may be recommended to the reader as a well-told his- 
torical and personal narrative, relating to the most important clus- 
ter in the Pacific; — Westminster Review. 

1 An able and interesting work, of which we cannot but speak in 
terms of the highest commendation.' — London Alias. 

V\'e hardly know when we have read a more interesting work 
of its kind.' — National Intelligencer. 

' A highly interesting and valuable work.' — Democratic Reviciv. 

1 Mr. Jaives gives us a volume of four hundred pages, got up in a 
style as far ahead of the trashy publications of the day. as his per- 
formance is superior to them. The book contains intrinsic evi- 
dence of his qualifications for the task, in addition to the fact that 
he spent four years among the Hawaiian group, and devoted himself 
most diligently to the study of all matters concerning it. The re- 
sult is truly refreshing. Hitherto we have thought that the med- 
dling of missionaries with the affairs of the native government was 
improper, impertinent, and injudicious; but Mr. Janes has set the 
matter in another light, and satisfied us, as he will every one who 
reads the book, that not to have interfered as they have done would 
have been wanting to their duty, not only as apostles of the cross, 
but as men. We never read a book more exactly what it should 
be.' — Hunt's Merchants' Magazine. 

1 His book bears many signs of diligence in collecting materials, 
and he appears to have used them with judgment. The details, 
which he gives of the intrigues and petty quarrels of the chief per- 
sonages in this microcosm of a hundred thousand inhabitants, are 
singularly minute for a country without any records except songs 
and traditions. The language is clear and energetic : the intro- 
ductory chapters, especially, are excellent specimens of descriptive 
writing. 

' There is much, also, suggestive of new ideas to any one of a 
speculative mind, in his sketches of the rapid civilization of the 
people of this small cluster of islands, of the working of their 
feudal system and constitutional monarchy, and of the management 
of their House of Representatives and their double Executive. 

1 Its literary merits, however, apart from the political importance 
of the information which it contains, will gain for it many readers; 
— North American Review 



SCENES AND SCENERY 



SANDWICH ISLANDS, 



AND A TRIP THROUGH 



CENTRAL AMERICA: 



BEING OBSERVATIONS FROM MY NOTE-BOOK DURING THE YEARS 



1837-1842. 



BY JAMES J. JARVES, 



"HOE OF ' HISTORY OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS,' MEMBER OF THE 
AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY. ETC. ETC. 



BMBXLl/IBBED WITH MAP A>JI> PLA.Tff>. 



BOSTON: 

JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY 
1843. 



^u 
b* 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, 
* BY JAMES J. JARVES, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



BEQUEST OF 
WALTER R. STEINER 
JAN. 20, 19* 



BOSTON ; 
PRINTED BY 8. N. DICK1' 
53 WASHINGTON STMKI. 



*</ 



PREFACE. 



' It was designed to interweave, with the civil and 
political account of the nation, a series of sketches, 
illustrative of their present life and condition, and 
other interesting points, which would have enlivened 
a bare narrative of facts ; also, to have pictured the 
wondrous natural phenomena of that prolific poriion 
of the Pacific, the great volcanic eruption of 1840 ; 
and a full account of the mightiest of craters, the 
gigantic Lua Pele, or Kilauea, in Hawaii. But it 
would have swelled the volume to an unwieldy size.' 
1 At an early period will be presented an additional 
volume, which, without being connected with the 
present, will give in detail all that is necessary to 
form a correct view of the Hawaiian Islands, their 
condition, prospects, the every-day concerns of the 
people, and missionary life as it now exists ; the two 
to form a succinct whole, illustrating each other.' — 
From Preface to l History of the Hawaiian or Sand- 
wich Islands.'' 



VI PREFACE. 

This volume is in fulfilment of that pledge. In 
it, I have attempted to delineate that which came 
within my immediate observation, during a residence 
of four years on the Group. As a description of the 
familiar life of a people, in a novel and interesting 
position, one which may with propriety be termed a 
state of transition from barbarism to civilization, it 
may attract the attention, and interest the sympa- 
thies, of readers of all classes. 

A portion of these sketches have been previously 
published in journals, and had some circulation, both 
in Europe and the United States. Such, though re- 
vised, will readily be recognized by the reader who 
has met with them elsewhere. 

Boston, November, 1S43. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I 

Land, Ho ! — Hawaii in the Distance. Reflections upon visit- 
ing for the first time the Isles of the Pacific. Coast Scenery. 
Oahu. Its Capital, Honolulu. Harbor. Prevailing Winds. 
Former Town. Present Streets. Puahi, or Punch-bowl Hill. 
Battery — View from. "Whirlwinds. Fort. Governor Keku- 
anaoa. Militia Drill. Palace. Residence of the Premier Ke- 
kauluohi. Her Sister, Kinau — Burial of. Churches. Lit- 
erary and Benevolent Institutions. Schools. Annual Festivals 
and Holydays. Population of Honolulu. Society, foreign and 
native. Groggeries. Sailor Dissipation. Police. Climate. 
Commerce. A Stranger's first Impressions. Native Manners. 
Mission Buildings. Street Scenes. Dog Feast. Saturday 
Afternoon. Nuuanu Valley. Taro Plant. Country Resi- 
dences. Scenery of the Valley. Battle. Pali, or Precipice. 13 



CHAPTER IX. 

Village of Waikiki. Ruined House. Diamond Head. Ruin- 
ed Temple. Manoa Valley. Singular Crater. White Man 
turned Savage. Little Old Man — Anecdote of. Chief hung. 
Forgery. Sunday at Honolulu. At Tahiti. Fashions. Re- 
markable disappearance of Dresses after Religious Service. 
Corsets in use — Out of use. Chiefs Entertainments. Extra- 
ordinary Preparations in honor of Captain Finch, U. S. N. 
Children of Missionaries. Danger to their Morals. Painful 
instances of Degradation at Tahiti. Boarding-School Estab- 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

lished at Oahu. Sports of Native Youth. Musical Kites. 
Pearl River. Ewa. Church and Station. Waialua. Manual 
Labor School. Its Success. Ruins of a Temple, and Site of 
a Tribe of Cannibals. North Side of Oahu. Legends. Love 
of the Marvellous. Poetry. Example of Modern Style. 
Shipwrecked Japanese — Account of. System of Numerals. 59 



CHAPTER III. 

Koloa Packet. Voyage. Companions. Devotions of Ha- 
waiian Crew. Appearance of Kauai. Its Situation. Harbors. 
Koloa Scenery. Sugar Plantations — History of. Paper Money. 
Counterfeit do. Sugar-cane. Quality of Soil. Profits of 
Sugar. Probable Success in its Culture. Effect of Foreign 
Capital and Enterprise upon Natives. Old System of Labor. 
Present. A Novel Race. Market Day. Trading. Culture of 
Silk. Rapidity of Growth of the Mulberry. Different Species 
of Silk-worms. Cross-breeds. Loss of Capital invested in Silk- 
business at Koloa. Fatality of the Tre c ;s and Worms. Causes. 
A Beautiful, but Secluded Spot. News from ' Home.' A Cov- 
etous Governess. A Singular Excursion. Mouna Kahili. A 
Legend. A Predatory Chieftain. Reflections upon his Fate. 
Valley of Hanapepe. Surf-swimming. Remarkable Freaks of 
Nature. A Cataract. Great Mortality at Hanapepe. A Ne- 
cessary though Sudden Marriage. Good Condition of Roads. 
Who keeps them so. Town of Waimea. Capital of the Island. 
Amelia, the Governess. Mission Houses. Residences of the 
Rulers. A Straw Palace. A Fine Canoe. Fort. Niihau. 
First Introduction of Fleas. Soil of Kauai. Geological Fea- 
tures. Mountains. Uplands and Lowlands. Pali. Remark- 
able Caves. Spouting-Horn. Rivers. Great Body of Arable 
Land. Trades. Climate. Storms. Minerals, &c . . 87 



CHAPTER IV. 

Travelling in Kauai. Horse and Equipments. Crazy Guide. 
Stuttering Jim. Cruelty of a Chief. Narrow Escape of a Mis- 
sionary. Gov. Kaikoewa's Embryo City. His Harbor. Brig 
in trouble. Desire of Natives to display their Knowledge of 



CONTENTS. IX 

English. Wailua River and Village. An Ex-queen. Her 
History. Hospitality. Large Cattle. A Disappointed Sports- 
man. Celebrated Falls of Wailua. Singular Freak of a Chief. 
Two Hawaiian Sam Patches. Inland Scenery. Mauna Waia- 
leale. Wild Swine. Dogs. Degradation of Kauaian Women. 
Obtain some Crania, and a New Title in consequence. Hos- 
pitality of Common People. Offices and Titles. Anahola. 
A Veteran of Kamehameha. Prince of Laziness. Lomi-lomi. 
A Temple of God's own building. A Dangerous Ford. Roads 
to Waioli. A Labor of Love. Valley of Kalihiwai. Hala 
Forest. Waioli. River and Mountains. Residents. Agricul- 
tural Operations. Silk Plantation. A Chronological Wood 
Pile 139 



CHAPTER V. 

Island of Maui. Its Capital. Seat of Government. Pal- 
ace. His Majesty, Kamehameha III. His Spouse. Products 
of Maui. ' House of the Sun.' Female Seminary at Wailuku. 
High School at Lahainaluna. Native Historical Society. Re- 
flective and Perceptive Powers of the Hawaiians. Influence 
of the American Missionaries over the Common People. Dis- 
crepant Statements of Travellers — Causes of. State of Re- 
ligion, as compared with the United States. Statistics. Ac- 
tual Condition. Death Scenes. Comparison of the Relative 
Influence of Spanish Padres and American Missionaries, over 
their Converts. Different Phases of National Character. Ad- 
mitting to the Church. Moral Sentiments — Actual Recog- 
nition of. Truth and Falsehood. Criminal Statistics. Style 
of Living among American Missionaries. Their Houses, Cost, 
&c. Their Advantages and Disadvantages. Enemies and 
Friends. Objectionable Biography. Privations of the Earlier 
Missionaries. Qualifications for a Missionary. Examples. 
Their Hospitalities. Labors for the Literary and Commercial 
World. Faults. Hostility to Roman Catholics. Extent. 
Anecdotes. Discontinuing Connection with the American 
Board. Independent Missionaries. Tendency of the Present 
Times. Ill Health of Females. Causes and Remedy. . 170 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Embark for Hawaii. Companions. A Roman Catholic 
Priest and Protestant Missionary. A Disputation. Coast of 
Hawaii. Port of Kailua. Billy Pitt the Younger. Landing. 
Strife among Porters. Many Call, Few are Paid. Gov. Ad- 
ams — His Bulk and Character. Palacr. Church. 'Blue 
Laws ' revived. Cotton Factory. 'House of Gods.' 'House 
of Audience.' Manufacture of Idols. Battery. Cave of Lan- 
iakea. Mullet for Supper. Kapiolani. Cook's Monument. 
Embark for Kawaihae. Parting Respects and Wail. Mauna 
Hualalai — Eruption from. Roadstead of Kawaihae. Heiau 
or Temple. Walk to Waimea. Fire. Weather. Productions 
of Waimea. Men Procured. Start for Mauna Kea. Camp 
among Fleas. Remarkable Crater. Minerals. Wild Cattle. 
Horses give out — Men also. Reach the Summit. Wonderful 
View. A Rocky Lodging-Place. Descend. Height of the 
Mountain. A Snow-Balling in July. Reach the Base of the 
Mountain. A Bullock Catcher's Hut. ' Clinkers.' Rebellion 
among Men. A Bed in the Rain, and a Smoky Cave. A Cold 
Morning. Mammoth Raspberries. Effects of a Tornado or 
Earthquake. Volcano of Kilauea. A Dangerous Lodging- 
Place. Storm and Eruption at Night. Steam Fissures. Sul- 
phur Beds and Bath. Extent of Crater — Shape — Age — Ele- 
vation — Interior. Descent. Black Ledge — Walk around. 
Burning Lakes and Cones. Gases. Beautiful Appearance of 
Lava. Great Heat. A Perilous Climb. Dangers of Explo- 
ration. Appearance of Crater at Different Times. Volcanic 
Action throughout the Group. Hawaii a Crust of Lava, with 
Fire beneath. Another Mutiny. Provisions gone. Mauna 
Loa, the Great Mountain — Douglas's Description of — Its 
Errors and Inconsistencies. Leave for Hilo. An over-sharp 
Landlord. Leave in a Pet. A Guide's Trick. Arrival at Hilo. 
Situation and Natural Beauties. Its Resources, Climate, Pop- 
ulation, Exports, &c. Mission House. Schools. A New Jaunt. 
The Late Eruption. Immense Stream of Lava — Its Devasta- 
tions. Burning Forests, Smoke, Fires, Gases, &c. Appear- 
ance at the Sea. Three Hills and New Coast formed. Salts. 
Steam. An Account of its First Outbreak, and Subsequent 
History. A Sublime Spectacle. The Ocean and Volcano in 



CONTENTS. XI 

Strife. Eccentric Course of the Stream — Effects. Return to 
Hilo. Primitive State of the Inhabitants. Sunday. A New- 
Way of Preaching. Feats in Swimming. A Shipwreck and 
Wonderful Escape. 206 



CHAPTER VII. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 

Different Routes. Difficulties. Embarkation for Panama. 
Fellow Passengers. Acapulco. Trouble. Imprisonment and 
Release. Admiral Du Petit Thouars. Mexican Hospitality. 
Gulf of Tecuantepec. Phosphorescence. Volcanoes of Guati- 
mala. Arrival at Acajutla. Brigantine at Anchor. Shore. 
Roadstead of Acajutla. Surf. Boats Capsized. Custom House. 
A Hospitable Laity. Leave the Brig. Road to Zonzonate. 
Sugar and Indigo Plantations. Ruins. Age of Zonzonate. 
Population. A Kind Hostess. Carnival. Man Killed. A 
Benefit from a Thespian Corps. Country Cousins. News 
from Guatimala. Wars in the Interior. A Dilemma. Con- 
clude to Go-ahead. Preparations. An Auxiliary. Leave 
Zonzonate. Cordilleras. Volcano of Itzalco. Dry and Wet 
Seasons. An Indian Village. A Meditated Attack. Change 
of Route. An Indian Hamlet. A Submerged Town. An Es- 
cape. A Fresh Alarm. Village of St. Helena. Bad News. 
A Council. A Night March. Pass through Chiquimula. Ef- 
forts to capture us. A Hard Road, and a Thirsty Party. Pass 
Zacapa. A Dilemma. San Pablo. A Halt. Slumbers Inter- 
rupted. Captured. An Unexpected Friend. Release. Gua- 
lan. A Surly Landlady. Mico Mountain. Isabel. Trade. 
Scenery of the Gulf of Dulce. Boat Navigation. Chills and 
Fever. Balize. Arrive Home. . . 283 




"V .Z 1 'l| 






MOTjOKAI. 



Corrected from ftie lMi^t survevs 

■ 






I JfclealiaJtJ, -r 



"^■''L^SJU, 







CHAPTER I. 

Land, Ho ! Hawaii in the Distance. — Reflections upon visiting for 
the first time the Isles of the Pacific. — Coast Scenery. — Oahu. ~- 
Its Capital, Honolulu. — Harbor. — Prevailing Winds. — Former 
Town. — Present Streets. — Puahi, or Punch-bowl Hill. — Bat- 
tery. — View from. — Whirlwinds. — Fort. — Governor Keku- 
anaoa. — Militia Drill. — Palace. — Residence of the Premier 
Kekauluohi. — Her Sister, Kinau. — Burial of. — Churches. — 
Literary and Benevolent Institutions. — Schools. — Annual Fes- 
tivals and Holydays. — Population of Honolulu. — Society, for- 
eign and native. — Groggeries. — Sailor Dissipation. — Police. — 
Climate. — Commerce. — A Stranger's first Impressions. — 
Native Manners. — Mission Buildings. — Street Scenes. — Dog 
Feast. — Saturday Afternoon. — Nuuanu Valley. — Taro Plant. 
— Country Residences. — Scenery of the Valley. — Battle. — 
Pali, or Precipice. 

Land, Ho ! cried a full, clear voice from the fore 
top-gallant yard of a fast-sailing brigantine, which, 
but a few years since, had worn out five weary 
months, on her way from Boston to the Hawaiian 
Islands. During that time, several of the South 
American ports had been visited, and a more than 
usually rough passage encountered in weathering 
Cape Horn. For forty days, in the most inclement 
season of that boisterous and inhospitable latitude, 
the little bark had contended against adverse gales, 
until it seemed to the exhausted patience of the crew, 
as if the wind could blow but from one quarter, and 
that ever dead ahead. But before the sunny skies 
2 



14 



SOUTH SEA GROUPS. 



and fairy-like evenings of the tropical Pacific, all recol- 
lection of the tempests of the south, and the long and 
dark and almost continuous nights, had vanished as 
fleetingly as a rain-squall before a driving 'trade/ 
The sun shone out as brightly, and the sky was as 
blue, as if the ocean had never roughened its surface 
before a furious blast ; the brigantine had donned her 
fair-weather suit, and royal yard and studding.sail boom 
were strained by the freshening breeze ; while crew 
and passengers wore as smiling faces, the reflection 
of as many joyous hearts, as if life had ever been to 
them all sunshine. In the every day concerns of 
life, there are few sounds that send a more quickened 
thrill through the frame, than the cry of ' land, ho ! ' 
to the voyager, who has spent months pent in the 
narrow confines of a small vessel, and whose heart 
yearns to greet old friends or new faces ashore, and 
to exchange the hard deck and his cofFin-like bed, for 
the green fields and ample households of mother- 
earth. 

To a novice in voyaging, the bright islands of 
Polynesia, celebrated in song and story, the newest 
and most fascinating field of maritime discovery, the 
themes of praise alike to the man of piety and the 
worldling, have a peculiar attraction. To the young 
American, the lands of old Europe are fields of 
storied interest; — of high and noble deeds — of 
dark and sanguinary passions. In them he sees 
enshrined the monuments of the proudest genius, 
records of glory and shame, worth and wickedness, 
arts and sciences, of the past and the present. In 
mingling with the living generation, he is every- 



SOUTH SEAS. 15 

where reminded of the vices or virtues of the de- 
parted. 

In perspective, far different are the groups of the 
South Seas. They seem as the garden-spots of the 
earth, and distance paints them as redolent with the 
fragrance and luxuriance of nature. Cocoa-nut 
groves, uplifting their slim but stately trunks, form a 
clear greensward, such as fairies might delight to 
dance upon ; their graceful tops waving gently as the 
sea-breeze murmurs and sighs through them ; coral 
reefs, as beautiful in form and as bright in colors as 
the dense and flowering forests inland ; scenery rich 
and varied ; luscious fruits waiting but for the hand 
to pluck them ; the useful and ornamental of the ani- 
mal and feathered kingdoms to administer to the ne- 
cessities or please the eye of man ; an absence of the 
noxious or disagreeable, and above all, peopled with 
the fairest race of savages, all combined, form a pan- 
orama so fascinating that the fancy loves to linger long 
upon it. Imagination, warmed and invigorated by 
the sunniest and healthiest of all climates, continu- 
ally presents an undefined yet pleasing image of a 
perpetual juvenescence ; nature retaining a pristine 
vigor and perennial green. But all their varied nat- 
ural attractions, and the fictitious charms ascribed to 
the race whose homes they have been from time im- 
memorial, sink into insignificance in the eye of the 
sober truth-seeker, who visits them not to gloat over 
their physical allurements, which have been so often 
depicted as the ease and innocency of mankind in 
their aboriginal state, by those who would create an 
Eden where only a Cythera existed, but faithfully to 



16 HAWAII IN THE DISTANCE. 

examine the wondrous changes which a christian 
benevolence has wrought upon them. AVhatever 
may be his nation, tastes, or pursuits, no one has ever 
approached their shores without sentiments of more 
than common interest or curiosity. 

The land which was seen from aloft soon became 
visible from the deck. It appeared more like a white 
cloud, upon a dark base, resting in ether, than bond 
fide land. As the vessel drew nearer, the outline 
of a mountain was clearly distinguished, with a 
dense bed of snow upon its summit. It proved to 
be Mauna Kea on Hawaii, the loftiest peak of Poly- 
nesia, and discernible at sea to the distance of one 
hundred miles and more. Vessels bound to Oahu 
generally pass to the windward of the other islands, to 
avoid the calms which prevail more or less to the lee- 
ward. In drawing in with the land, the breeze 
usually freshens and becomes more squally with 
slight showers of rain. From the boldness of the 
shores, vessels can pass close along them, enabling 
the traveller to scan their general features as he is 
rapidly hurried by. Rising as they do, from out the 
central portion of the great North Pacific, midway 
between the continents of Asia and America, and 
several thousand miles distant from any lands except 
the barren, diminutive, and uninhabited coral islands 
which are sparsely scattered over its surface, mostly 
within the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, these 
islands appear like giant guardians of the ocean. 
They break at once upon the voyager with a sudden- 
ness and grandeur that excites his surprise and admi- 
ration. Providence seems just so to have placed 



COAST SCENERY. 17 

them, that they shall serve as a great ocean-hotel — 
an oasis in the boundless waste of waters — a spot 
where men of all races can meet on a neutral and 
hospitable ground, and there raise their anthem of 
praise for deliverance from the dangers of the treach- 
erous deep, and petition for protection for the future. 
By day, the huge volcano of Kilauea throw up 
its heavy columns of smoke, and by night illumin- 
ates them by the reflection of its flames ; at either 
time a beacon to the approaching mariner ; a light- 
house tended by God's own hand. 

Maun a Kea and Mauna Loa tower to a height of 
fourteen thousand feet. The coast affords a mingled, 
scene of precipices, some craggy, barren, and abrupt, 
others sloping somewhat gently, green and pictu- 
resque. Along their ravines or over their brinks leap 
many cataracts and cascades, bright and silvery in 
the sunlight ; these, mingling their streams atthe base 
of the hills, pour their limpid floods into the briny foam, 
which whitens and roars along the sea-shore. Plains 
covered with grass, or dotted with luxuriant groves, 
with here and there a native-hut partly hid in their shade, 
incline gradually towards the coast. The eye roving 
ahead perceives jutting promontories of black volcanic 
rock pierced with wave-worn caves, or a strip of sand 
beach edged by a shallow coral reef, over which the 
surf tumbles madly or playfully, according to the 
violence or lightness of the wind. Canoes are seen 
shooting through them, their crews balancing their 
totlish boats on the crests of the largest rollers, with 
all the skill of a circus-rider upon his steed ; now 
they dart rapidly inland, at times appearing as if 
2* 



18 HONOLULU. 

ihey would be cast end over end as they are pitched 
along ; or else they paddle seaward and ply their 
nets and fishing-lines. Drawing nearer, clusters of 
trees are discovered ; a hamlet is seen, scattered up 
and down the bank of a river, and when abreast of 
its mouth a valley is disclosed, reaching far inland, 
until it terminates in a narrow and wooded dell or 
gorge. It gradually rises from the sea-side, teeming 
with little plantations, until its further extremity is 
lost in the vapor and clouds of the higher regions. 
Many of these valleys are beautiful, though secluded 
spots, and cannot fail to attract the attention of the 
most indifferent observer as he sails by them. But 
more of the island scenery anon. A vessel is sel- 
dom more than twenty-four hours after making 
Hawaii, in reaching Oahu. 

On the south side of that island, about five miles 
from the point called by the natives, Leahi, and by 
the foreigners, Diamond Point, a bold and singular 
promontory, is the town of Honolulu, the commercial 
emporium of the North Pacific. For the last twenty 
years it has been silently growing into existence, and 
though its name is scarcely known to the world, it 
has become the central point of Christianity and civ- 
ilization in this portion of the globe ; and, both from 
its past history and its increasing importance, is 
deserving of particular notice. It is the first landing- 
place of the traveller, the gate-way into the Hawaiian 
kingdom, and it is from here generally that his only im- 
pressions are received or confirmed. Too often has it 
been the extent of the researches of tourists, whose 
judgments of the group have been based solely upon 
their knowledge of the denizens of its capital. 



harbor. 19 

Soon after the discovery, in 1794, of the entrance 
through the reef which forms its harbor, Honolulu 
began to be favorably known. Its name signifies 
fair-haven. As a depot for trade its advantages are 
great, and its facilities as a resort for shipping equally 
so. The basin formed by the reef, is not large, but 
sufficiently capacious to accommodate from sixty to 
one hundred sail at once. The anchorage outside 
the reef, a mile from the town, is very accessible, and 
during most of the year, perfectly secure. When 
the wind blows from the south, which it rarely does 
with violence, a vessel has the choice to come inside 
or to put to sea. The entrance is somewhat intricate 
and narrow, but it is well buoyed out, and skilful pilots 
are always on hand. The channel is half a mile in 
length, and will not admit vessels drawing over 
twenty feet. At low water, which here falls about 
four feet, the reefs on either side are bare. Not un- 
frequently, vessels are detained outside for several 
days, by the fresjiness of the ' trades,' which here 
blow directly ofT shore, and prevent ingress, but at 
the same time afTord a corresponding facility for leav- 
ing. It is seldom that a vessel is detained for want 
of a sailing breeze. Early in the morning, before 
the trades set down fresh from the mountains, is the 
best time to bring a ship inside, which is commonly 
done by towing. 

A few years since, Honolulu was a mere collec- 
tion of straw-hovels, interspersed with a few build- 
ings of a little better character, occupied by the 
chiefs or foreign residents. The whole were arranged 
much after the plan of the Dutch settlers of Manhat- 



20 HONOLULU. 

tan ; although, in this instance, cows were not the 
authorized surveyors of the streets, the waywardness 
of the tastes and dispositions of the builders effected 
a corresponding confusion, and narrow streets or foot- 
paths, and a jumbled mass of huts, stores, walls, and 
enclosures, was the result. 

But Honolulu in 1842 wore a different aspect. It 
is built upon a plain situated at the outlet of several 
rich valleys, the chief of which is Nuuanu. The 
space is ample for it to swell into a large and flour- 
ishing city. On the west a small stream, running 
from the valley of Nuuanu, separates it from the 
low-lands where the greater portion of the taro planta- 
tions are located. A wooden bridge and earthen and 
stone causeway afford an easy access to the town, for 
the travel from that quarter of the island, which is the 
most populous. Towards the east, a fine level plain, 
which, when watered, becomes fertile, intervenes 
between the town and a barren track of volcanic 
rock, three miles distant, produced by the former out- 
pourings of the numerous extinct volcanos, which 
in this direction constitute the chief feature of the 
scenery. Verdure is slowly gaining ground upon it 
annually, as the soil formed from vegetable deposits 
and the decomposition of the 'rock, increases. Tol- 
erable carriage-roads extend for several miles in the 
rear of the town and on the plain, which also affords 
a good race-course. Between the plain and the sea 
is an interval of low and wet land, bordered by and 
based upon coral reef. The natives here manufac- 
ture considerable salt by evaporation, the salt water 
being exposed to the rays of the sun in shallow ba- 



HONOLULU. 21 

sins. The limestone of the reefs is an excellent 
building material, being easily cut with axes when 
in the water, and becoming hard upon exposure to 
the atmosphere. It also yields an abundant supply 
of lime. 

Numerous wide and straight avenues, intersecting 
each other mostly at right angles, run through the 
town. Yearly it is assuming a more civilized aspect. 
The warehouses, and residences of the foreign mer- 
chants are principally concentrated in the western 
part. Many of them are of stone and are well built 
and handsome edifices. Some are of adobie, or 
sun-dried bricks. These are made from the soil in 
the streets, which is kneaded with the feet, water and 
chopped straw being mixed with it. When it has 
attained a sufficient consistency it is placed in 
wooden moulds of the size required, and then left to 
harden. They become very compact ; the best will 
scarcely yield to the blows of an axe. The walls of 
the houses built of them are plastered over with lime, 
These bricks no doubt are of precisely the same 
make and pattern as those required of the children of 
Israel by their Egyptian task-masters. Indeed, the 
resemblance between a group of Hawaiians, with 
their redskins and scanty costumes, and even the im- 
plements employed in making their bricks, are so strik- 
ingly similar to a hieroglyphical painting some four 
thousand years old which has been transcribed by 
Wilkinson, of a similar scene among the children of 
Ham at that date, that the picture would answer as 
well for one as the other. It is somewhat refreshing 
in this changing age, to perceive that even one of the 



22 PUAHI, OR PUNCH-BOWL HILL. 

good old customs of our progenitors still continue 
among us. And the very name of the bricks has 
been perpetuated with scarcely an alteration, through 
the many ages that have rolled on since the first 
adobie was made. Mr. Gliddon, the hierologist, 
informs us that adaub was the Egyptian word for this 
kind of brick, and it is still used by the Copts and 
modern inhabitants of that country. Doubtless the 
Saracens derived it from them and carried it into 
Spain ; from Spain it found its way to the Americas, 
and thence, with an exceedingly slight variation, 
within twenty-five years has become familiarized at 
the Hawaiian Islands. Continuing westward it may 
arrive at the land of its birth. 

The dwelling-houses are chiefly situated within 
enclosures, a little retired from the street, and are 
surrounded with small but well cultivated gardens, 
which give them a rural and cheerful aspect. The 
soil of Honolulu is light and shallow, resting upon 
regularly piled strata of coral rock and volcanic cin- 
ders, and is formed mostly by the ashes from a neigh- 
boring extinct crater and the debris washed from hills 
in the rear of the town. When watered, which is 
done by windmills, it becomes productive. A few 
years ago, scarcely a tree, with the exception of the 
tall cocoa-nut groves which border the beach looking 
seaward, like watchful sentinels over the town, was 
to be seen within its precincts. Now the scene is 
widely different. Looking down from Puahi, or 
Punch-bowl hill, an old crater half a mile back of 
the town, and of several hundred feet elevation, a 
pleasing and novel coup flceil is obtained. Punch- 



BATTERY. 23 

bowl hill obtained its soubriquet in times not quite 
as temperate as the present ; its shape internally is 
much like a bowl, being a gradual and uniform 
hollow. Facing the town its sides are steep, and the 
appearances of lava and other volcanic substances 
from its base upwards so fresh, that one might read- 
ily be pardoned for indulging in some suspicion of 
its ultimate intentions ; for it appears as if nursing 
its wrath, and ready at any angry moment to belch 
forth once more its destructive fires. However, fur- 
ther back than Hawaiian traditions run, it has re- 
mained quiescent, and its nap does not appear 
likely to be disturbed ; nor does one of the ten thous- 
and inhabitants that nightly repose within its shadow, 
sleep less quietly for fear of its awakening. It forms 
so prominent an object in approaching the town, 
from whatever position, that it may well be taken for 
the guardian genius of the place. And it could, at 
small expense, be easily made so. Annually, fires 
are seen to burst forth from its summit, followed by 
loud reports and heavy volumes of smoke. They 
are the pigmy fires of men in honor of men ; salutes 
discharged from sundry enormous thirty-two and 
forty -two pounders, which in the days of despotism 
were drawn up its sides and planted on its crest, at a 
great outlay of human strength and stupidity. A 
flag-staff — a stone wall — some natural embrasures 
in the lava rock, a fire-proof sfraw-built and mud- 
plastered powder magazine, a few hovels, a dozen 
ragged urchins, an old crone or two, with as many 
of the sturdier sex, and a numerous colony of goats, 
constitute the fortification and garrison. If the bat- 



24 BATTERY, VI FAY FROM. 

tery was properly mounted and secured it would 
effectually command llie harbor and protect the town. 
At the present time it answers for the more peace- 
ful purpose of a promenade, and the view from all 
points is well wortli the labor of the ascent. Look- 
ing inland, the mountains rise gradually until they 
terminate in abrupt peaks, covered with dense forests, 
which lie in a region of almost perpetual mist, or 
showers. Lower down the grass grows luxuriantly, 
and herds of cattle there graze until night fall, when 
they seek shelter in their pens. Seaward the eye 
roams over the boundless ocean, whose waters line 
the coral-bound shore with a broad belt of snow- 
white breakers. Beneath lies the plain, alive with 
pedestrians, horsemen, and vehicles of quaint or 
fashionable appearance ; a little farther, the town, 
with its intermingling of barbarism and civilization, 
and all its intermediate stages. Its numerous gar- 
dens, and the many trees which have been recently 
planted, give it a rural appearance. The fort, ship- 
ping, red-painted roofs, stone churches, spires, look- 
outs, (for every house of any pretensions has a queer- 
shaped box or cupalo perched near or upon its ridge- 
pole,) the motion of the arms of the wind-mills, en- 
gaged in their everlasting pump — pump, straw 
hovels, and straw palaces, mud-built walls and mud- 
built habitations, all combine to form a unique if not 
harmonious spectacle. Let the enterprising pedes- 
trian select a windy day for his view, if he would 
have its full value, when the dry season is nearly 
passed and the trades come sweeping down the 
heights in gusts with the force of whirlwinds. If 



WHIRLWINDS. 25 

he is able to maintain bis position on the dizzy 
height, until one of the eddying currents has swept 
by him, he will see it whirling and dancing over the 
plain, raising a dense column of dust, darkening the 
sun and completely hiding objects but a few rods 
distant. On it speeds, gathering dirt and momentum 
as it goes. Wo ! to the exposed, Eyes are filled, 
nostrils choked, and the poor victims, stupefied and 
blinded, know not whither to turn. Alas! for hats ; 
they mount to ihe upper regions ; clothes are raised 
from their drying places, and away they toss and 
whirl high in air, while the loose toga-like garment 
of many an unfortunate wight is wrested from his 
bruised limbs and hastens to join its predecessors in 
their aerial antics. Away rush the owners, running 
and jumping, while their property is dodging and 
flying about them, like a knowing horse that has 
taken leave of his master, and, keeping just a rod 
distant, eyes him askew, as if he would say, { bide 
my pleasure now.' In time, however, all is righted ; 
hats regain their owners' heads, and clothes take 
another dip in the brook ; but on speeds the whirl- 
wind. Anxious mothers flutter about their children, 
like distressed hens over their frightened broods, for 
they well know that unless they can avoid the shock, 
their equilibrium and tempers are at once upset. 
Watchful house-keepers slam their windows, and hold 
their breaths and dusting-cloths, aware that full use 
for both will soon occur. But the saddest ruin of all 
is, when one treacherously overtakes a well-spread 
dinner-table, entering through unclosed windows and 
doors, covering viands and eaters with a laver of 
3 



26 FORT. 

fine sand. There is no remedy but to dine the 
next day. 

The fort, that terror to evil doers of all races, 
within whose walls they are consigned to a spare 
diet by day and a hard lodging by night, and the 
companionship of filth and fleas at all times of their 
incarceration, merits particular description. It was 
built under the superintendence of John Young, a 
few years before the death of Kamehameha I. It is 
on the eastern side of the harbor, and encloses sev- 
eral acres of land. Its walls are from twelve to fif- 
teen feet in height, and of greater breadth, faced 
with stone on the two sides, and filled in "with earth. 
The whole forms a hollow square; the parapets are 
of adobies plastered, of no kind of use except for 
appearance. Between them are mounted sixty 
pieces of ordnance, some of heavy calibre, but the 
whole structure would crumble to pieces before a few 
well-directed broadsides, though for the purposes of 
the government, in any case except that of foreign 
war, it is ample. The guns point to all quarters, 
commanding the town equally with the harbor. Let 
us enter. At the southern gate, we find a well dress- 
ed sentinel with quite as much of a military air as 
others of his profession, in more powerful countries 
within the same latitude. He interposes no restric- 
tion. Inside, the square is neat and in good order ; 
rusty cannons and balls lay piled about. The menials 
and officers of justice are sauntering about with all 
the pride and laziness of house-fed dogs, looking 
very much as if they wanted to lay hands upon some 
one. Groups of the most hardened villains are to be 



GOVERNOR KEKUANAOA. 27 

seen manacled and stretched out on the ground be- 
neath the shade of neither rain-tight or sun-tight 
sheds ; a white face now and then varies the general 
array of dark countenances. It is that of some sea- 
man, who prefers the risks of such a captivity to the 
discomforts of the fore-castle, and has attempted to 
run away or has been engaged in a drunken broil. 
Women, the most dwarfish, ugly, and disgusting of 
their sex, in garments tattered and torn, hair dishev- 
elled, but surmounted by wreaths of flowers, in sin- 
gle file come panting into the fort. They bear upon 
their backs loads of grass and rushes, to be strewed 
in front of the governor's quarters, forming a natural 
carpet. These women are violaters of the law con- 
nubial ; and for want of funds to pay their fines, are 
obliged to bring these loads from the country. They 
are only the most abandoned of their class, and pass 
along with a bold stare or impudent leer. Various 
well-built stone houses, containing munitions of war, 
next attract our notice; but it is time we paid our 
respects to the Governor of Oahu, Kekuanaoa, who 
makes this place his head- quarters. Ascending a 
flight of wooden steps on the right, we reach the 
summit of the wall, which forms a delightful prom- 
enade. Here, under the shade of a grove of hou 
trees, commanding a fine view of the ocean and 
country, the lesser criminal cases are disposed of. A 
spacious stone house which we enter from the grove, 
contains the hall of justice and the apartments of the 
governor. In an ante-room we find him. He is a 
fine looking, portly man of fifty years of age ; his 
air is military and commanding, and his deportment 



28 MILITIA DRILL. 

that of a gentleman ; a man of business in his 
habits. Secretaries are busily engaged in writing at 
his dictation ; the room is well furnished, all are well- 
dressed, and every thing looks civilized and comfort- 
able. We find the governor courteous withal, and 
he will offer you refreshments with all the grace of 
a gentleman of the old school. After knowing the 
man, it will be your own fault if you do not pro- 
nounce him a very clever one ; and that is no .faint 
praise for one who lived from youth to manhood in 
heathenism of the vilest cast. He was in the suite 
of the former king, Liholiho, when he went to Eng- 
land, and there received much attention. He is now 
a member of the church, and a tee-totaler; partaking 
of neither ardent spirits nor wine. His correct busi- 
ness habits, firmness, and decision have won for him 
the esteem of all respectable men. Within a year, 
the insurance offices of Boston have presented him 
a handsome service of plate, for his zealous attention 
to their interests and services rendered shipping in 
distress. Taking leave of him, we return by the 
same way, and in the area, beneath, find the militia 
of the town assembled to go through the manual 
exercise. All the male population, as with us, are 
drilled in arms several times annually. Their gar- 
ments are not quite as uniform as their muskets, and 
scoffers might pronounce them a breechless set. 
However, they are in their working costume, and 
Hawaiian citizen soldiery are no more given to wear- 
ing their bettermost upon a training-day than New 
England's sons of Mars. They handle their guns 
cleverly though, and it is well they do, for a young 



RESIDENCE OF THE PREMIER KEKAULUOHI. 29 

officer in uniform stands ready to apply a blow 
from a good-sized rod, whenever any remissness is 
manifested. 

To the east of the fort are the barracks and royal 
enclosure. Within it, is the Kauila house, a neat 
and handsome edifice, containing the hall of audience 
and the room where the supreme court sits when in 
session. Both are well furnished. A number of 
smaller buildings are appropriated to the royal suite. 
The palace, which is new, is built after the man- 
ner of their ancestors, being of thatch upon a frame 
of wood, both of beautiful finish. The interior 
forms a large and noble hall, floored with mats. The 
timber used in its erection is the same as that of the 
famed ' Stewart Palace,' but the glass folding-doors 
have degenerated into plain doors with top and side 
lights. 

Kekauluohi owns a large two-story stone house in 
the upper part of the town, well furnished, though 
the grounds about it are not in the best order. Ac- 
cording to an old custom of the land, her retainers 
have erected numerous habitations immediately 
around hers. The attendants of the chiefs swarm as 
near them as possible. Kekauluohi is a daughter of 
Kamehameha I., and has obtained among foreigners 
the soubriquet of 'big-mouth queen,' from the great 
size of that organ, which, although she weighs up- 
wards of three hundred pounds, bears a great dis- 
proportion to the rest of her face. She succeeded 
her sister Kinau, in the office of Premier, but holds 
it for the infant daughter of the latter, Victoria, whose 
legitimate title, when she arrives at an age suitable to 
3* 



30 KINAU, 

take the office upon herself, will be Kaahumanu TIL 
Even the chief women find it difficult to shake off 
all their former lounging propensities, and perhaps it 
is not desirable; certainly, in so corpulent women as 
most of them are, and in such a debilitating climate, 
it is excusable for them to a certain extent to sink 
their dignity in their comfort. In making a friendly 
and informal call upon Kekauluohi, she is most com- 
monly to be found in a loose satin dress, stretched at 
full length upon piles of fine mats, (the Hawaiian 
divan,) bolstered about with pillows, and surrounded 
by a bevy of young damsels, to administer to the 
comforts of her physical self. A Bible, hymn-book, 
or the little newspaper printed in the Hawaiian 
tongue, are ever near her; the former bearing marks 
of diligent use. When a visitor is announced, she 
languidly raises her head, and holds out a hand to 
be shaken, the plumpness of which entirely absorbs 
the smaller. A shake from such a hand is perfectly 
delightful; its softness and fairness, (for their hands 
are pretty, and terminate in long tapering fingers,) are 
irresistible; and, to those she likes, her smiles are very 
gracious and her reception cordial. 

Kinau was a woman of giant size, and possessing 
great dignity of carriage and firmness of character. 
In many respects she resembled her predecessor, the 
imperious but truly christian Kaahumanu, whose 
biography affords one of the most remarkable instan- 
ces of a sincere conversion in the records of mission- 
ary toil. The death of Kinau, which occurred 
April 4th, 1839, was a severe blow to the nation. 
After lying in state for a month, her body was de- 



BURIAL OF. 31 

posited in the royal tomb, near the house of Kekau- 
luohi, beside those of Liholiho, Kamamalu, Kaahu- 
manu, and others of the royal lineage. Funeral cere- 
monies tell much of the actual state of civilization 
in a nation, and hers are worthy of notice. At the day 
appointed for the interment, the island poured its 
multitudes into the streets of Honolulu. Kekaulu- 
ohi's house, where the body lay, was besieged by a 
dense throng of mourners, but order and quiet pre- 
vailed among them. A large body of troops, clad in 
white uniforms with blue facings, lined both Sides of 
the road through which the procession was to pass to 
the church. To avoid the dust, and render the 
walking pleasant, rushes and mats had been strewed 
alonsr the streets the whole distance. The chiefs 
were dressed in the deepest mourning; the females 
wore black silk and satin dresses with dark turbans ; 
together they formed a sombre group. Hoapili- 
wahine, the mother of the deceased, the friend of 
Vancouver, and the most aged among them, a giant- 
ess in stature, towered above all. Although buried 
in the deepest grief she joined in the procession. 
The coffin, which was covered with crimson velvet 
and richly decorated, was placed upon a car hung 
about with black drapery. It was drawn by young 
chiefs, in black pantaloons and head-dresses, but 
without coats, their white shirt-sleeves forming not 
an unpleasing contrast to the dark hues around them. 
Above all, waved the stately Kahilis, the beautiful 
feathered insignia of royalty. All the foreign offi- 
cers in port, and the consuls, in uniform, mer- 
chants and residents of all classes, and the native in- 



32 CHURCHES. 

habitants, united in paying the last sad tribute of 
respect to the departed. Badges of mourning were 
served out by the king to every one. Not a shout 
or a cry disturbed the slow movements of the funeral 
train ; the booming of the minute-guns alone was 
heard, and the solemn music of the band. As it 
passed the soldiers presented arms. One aged fe- 
male in the crowd, unable to control her emotion, and 
moved by the recollections of the past, broke out 
into a chant, after the customs of their ancestors. 
But she was silenced, and the rites were performed 
in a strictly christian manner. The corpse was pla- 
ced in the vault amid the tears and sobs of relatives 
and retainers ; the last looks given, the crowd 
quietly dispersed, and dust was left to claim its own. 
The most conspicuous if not the most ornamental 
edifice in the town, is the stone church* erected at the 
order of the king, by the joint labor of the whole 
island. Ten years were employed in cutting the 
stone, procuring the timber, <ko. Mean while the 
despotism of the chiefs became restrained by a writ- 
ten constitution. Tyranny and exactions laid its 
foundation and raised its walls, but voluntary labor 
and contribution completed the work. The manner 
of its erection and its slow progress furnish an epi- 
tome of the history of the nation and all its varied 
phases, from its darkest period of anarchy and con- 
fusion to the joyous and improving epoch which 
marked its dedication. Chiefs and people can read 
a lesson from its massive sides. Slowly and heavily 
rose its walls while the nation wrought under task- 
masters. Cheerily and speedily did they ascend and 



CHURCHES. 33 

reach then* top-most stone under efforts of an 
emancipated race, determined to erect a temple wor- 
thy of the service of Jehovah. It wa* completed 
mainly by the labor and contribution of its own con- 
gregation. Its great size is owing to a whim of the 
king, who was determined to have his church the 
largest in the kingdom. It is one hundred and ten 
feet long by seventy wide and thirty high. When 
the galleries are completed it will accommodate three 
thousand worshippers. The interior is plain ; orna- 
mented with a handsome clock, the gift of a Boston 
merchant. The exterior is in bad taste, being mod- 
elled after the old barn -like structures, which Presby- 
terianism, a century since, delighted to congregate in. 
It has three rows of small windows on all sides, re- 
sembling the port-holes of a line of battle-ship. The 
upper are arched, which relieves the bad effect some- 
what. Its design is the more to be regretted, as from 
the solid materials of which it is composed it bids 
fair to out-live the Hawaiian monarchy and lan- 
guage, and to remain to after ages a monument of 
their industry and piety. Its cost cannot be defi- 
nitely computed ; but had even a moiety of the labor 
exerted after the native fashion been paid for, one 
hundred thousand dollars could not have finished it. 
In the rear of the church is the foreign burial-ground, 
already numbering many stones to the departed mis- 
sionaries, their children, and others, who, having sought 
these shores when worn out with lingering diseases, 
have here ended their days. For acres around arise 
the humble mementos of the dead of the Hawaiian 
race, and the ground already seems filled to the ut- 



34 CHURCHES. 

most with its mouldering inhabitants. Towards the 
sea, are the remains of the temple which once was 
the pride of church-goers. A thatch building of the 
largest class, supported on a massive frame-work of 
wood bound together by cinet, and capable of ac- 
commodating five thousand worshippers. Like the 
temple of Solomon, neither the sound of hammer, 
nor axe, nor tool of iron, can be said to have been 
heard while it was building. Now the cattle have 
eaten away its grassy sides, and the rain and wind 
play sad antics with its dilapidated roof. When 
used, pigeons fly freely about over the heads of the 
congregation, and ileas nibble busily at their feet. 
As it was obliged to be occupied until the other was 
roofed, the people generously provided a tarpaulin to 
protect their pastor, while in the pulpit ; much upon 
the same principle of that church, who, laboring un- 
der a similar difficulty in a more inclement climate, 
showed a laudable regard for their own pockets and 
the comfort of their preacher, by voting to have only 
the sounding-board shingled. 

In the western part of the town, a new and neat 
church of the same denomination, and capable of 
accommodating two thousand persons, has been built. 
The Romanists are erecting a costly stone cathedral, 
one hundred and fifteen feet long by fifty wide. The 
foreigners generally worship in a two-story wooden 
building, sent out by the Seamen's Aid Society, 
which also supports a chaplain on the station ; but his 
services are mostly diverted to the residents, many of 
whom have fitted up the seats which were common in 
the chapel to all classes, and appropriated them to their 



LITERARY AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS. 35 

families, so that Jack Tar, if he comes, must occupy 
the lower places in the synagogue. There are few- 
ports where better access can be had to a larger body 
of respectable seamen, than at this place. In ihe 
lower story of the chapel, a reading-room has been 
fitted for their use. Another apartment is occupied 
by the collection and library of the Sandwich Island 
Institute, a useful and interesting society. 

An exceedingly beneficial institution is the Charity 
School. Owing to the former condition of society 
at this place, a numerous body of half-castes were 
growing up devoid of the means of education, while 
from their position, they were exposed to more than 
ordinary temptations, particularly the females. Con- 
sequently a rapidly increasing class, the more vicious 
from their greater abilities for evil as well as good, 
was let loose upon the community. Many had no 
acknowledged parents; those of others had deserted 
them, or were too poor, ignorant, or wicked, to care 
for their moral and religious well-being. Some were 
found who were willing and able to do something. 
Accordingly, in 1832 a society was established by 
the residents of Honolulu, supported by voluntary 
contributions. A school was formed, and a mission 
family obtained their dismission from the Board of 
American Missions, and undertook the charge of it. 
Sufficient funds were obtained to provide a good 
dwelling-house, with an adequate salary for the 
teachers. . A handsome stone school-house was 
erected, which now accommodates eighty children of 
both sexes ; and the utility of the plan of instruction, 
which is altogether in the English tongue, has been 



3G SCHOOLS. 

so well tested and approved, that children are an- 
nually sent from California to be educated here. 
Suitable buildings for ihe board and lodging of such 
scholars have been incorporated with the establish- 
ments. The funds now amount to eight thousand 
dollars ; but, if increased, its usefulness could be much 
enlarged, a higher and more thorough system of ed- 
ucation carried out, and more pupils be accommo- 
dated. On its present plan, its utility has been great, 
and numbers of youth have been raised to fill sta- 
tions profitably to socieiy. Of that highly important 
and interesting school for the royal children, I have 
spoken in another work.* It still continues in the 
full course of successful experiment, and is well de- 
serving the attention of the traveller. Numerous 
schools for the native children exist under the sur- 
veillance, and, as far as practicable, immediate care, 
of the American missionaries. In them, the ru- 
diments of instruction are freely taught, and their 
effect is very beneficial. Annually, examinations are 
held, at which all the relatives of the pupils and the 
populace, generally, are invited. After which, a feast 
is provided for the urchins, and the remainder of ihe 
day is appropriated to fun and frolic. In 1841, a 
rustic spot a mile in the rear of the town was select- 
ed for the occasion. At noon fourteen hundred mas- 
ters and misses in their best attire, divided into bands, 
bearing appropriate banners according to the schools 
to which they belonged, marched with drum and fife 
to the field where the mighty gastronomic feat was 
to be performed. Shawls, umbrellas, mats, extem- 

. * History of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands. 



ANNUAL FESTIVALS AND HOLYDAYS. 37 

pore sheds, and every thing else that could afford a 
shade, were erected to screen the devouring multi- 
tude from the sun, and the occasional showers of 
rain, which, however, were not sufficient to dampen 
their ardor in the least. What with mammas, and 
papas, aunts and uncles, cousins and loafers, relations 
of all degrees and relalions of no degrees at all, sev- 
eral thousands squatted down upon mother earth, to 
baked dog, pig, fish, poi, and other luxuries of a Ha- 
waiian palate, all of which disappeared with a rapidity 
which baffle calculation. The youthful aristocrats 
dined wilh His Majesty and others of the court, in a 
building prepared for the purpose. After the champing 
of teeth and hum of merry voices had sufficiently 
subsided, the king and premier made suitable ad- 
dresses. The crowd then adjourned, highly pleased, 
and looking forward with joyous expectation to the 
succeeding annual return of the holyday. Such 
merry-makings, combining amusement with instruc- 
tion, have a most favorable effect. Who, with such 
in view, regrets the libidinous dance, and the exciting 
gambling of olden time? 

New- Year's day is celebrated very generally by 
the adults much after the manner of the genuine 
Thanksgiving of New England ; with an interming- 
ling of the good things of this life, with the thoughts 
of the life to come. At Lahaina, an annual feast is 
held by the king and assembled chiefs, commencing 
on the 30th of December and continuing three 
days, in memory of the departed Princess, Na- 
hienaena. Salutes are fired from the batteries, 
and all the state and dignity of the kingdom em- 
4 



38 POPULATION. 

ployed to give solemnity to the august celebration. 
Nowhere is the Fourth of July greeted with a 
heartier welcome than at Honolulu. The enjoy- 
ment of ( the day we celebrate ' is not confined 
solely to the citizens of the great republic. All enter 
with zest upon its jovialities. To the Hawaiian's it 
has become a holyday equal to any of their own, 
though why, it w T ould puzzle them to tell, except, per- 
haps, from the sympathy which merriment and happi- 
ness always inspire. The morn is ushered in with a 
noise of drums and trumpets, fifes and horns, fiddles 
and triangles, shouts of noisy urchins, popping off 
of muskets, and every other extempore sound that 
will add to the general din. The shade of Adams 
the elder would rejoice in the display in this far-off 
isle. Many of the stores are closed, the batteries, 
thanks to the courtesies of the Governor, thunder 
their welcome, one gun for each State, and the day 
closes with parties and social amusements, at which 
all the resources of Yankee wit and ingenuity are 
drawn out. There is not an American heart that 
does not. beat heartier and prouder on this occasion, 
and though their patriotism may not be quite so 
practical, it is certainly as sincere in that of those, who, 
living within their country, are involved in the din 
and stir of politics. Abroad, more of the sentiment, 
1 our country, our whole country,' prevails. 

The population of Honolulu and its suburbs is 
computed at about ten thousand, of whom five to six 
hundred are foreigners. More than two thirds of 
these are citizens of the United States — the remain- 
der principally English and Chinese. Of American 
families, including those, of the mission, there are 



SOCIETY, FOREIGN AND NATIVE. GROGGERIES. 39 

twenty-three — and four English. Very many of 
the residents have intermarried among the natives. 
The foreign population is exceedingly heterogeneous? 
formed from a multitude of nations, ranks, and de- 
grees of refinement, wealth, and education. French- 
men, Spaniards, Portuguese, Russians, in fact, repre- 
sentatives from almost every race under the sun, 
from the cannibal of New Zealand to his civilized 
prototype, the convict of New South Wales ; — the 
dark Arab and ebony African. Amid such a med- 
ley every shade of civilization and barbarism, w T ith 
their attendant virtues and vices, are to be seen. And 
this variety and novelty renders society here agreea- 
ble to the voyager, though not always so to the resi- 
dent. Side by side are the poison and antidote, 
The church, concerts of prayer, religious influences 
of the most devoted nature, library and museum, 
school and lecture-room, beauties of nature, and the 
refinements and attractions of domestic life, the lux- 
uries and fair faces of his native land, invite on the 
one hand. On the other, scenes of doubtful good, 
the noisy frolic, cards and billiards, gambling and 
bowling, and all the usual allurements to dissipation, 
seduce the unwary. The elegant mansion reared by 
civilization lies half hid amid huts of almost squalid 
poverty, or of equally offensive filth. But it is to the 
poor seamen, that the temptations are strongest. 
Since the enforcement of the iniquitous Laplace 
Treaty, groggeries have inundated the town with their 
poisons. One of its most striking features is the 
number of signs everywhere to be seen, tempting 
the sailor to ruin. And to ruin he too often goes. 



40 SAILOR DISSIPATION. 

During the visit of the U. S. Exploring Expedition 
in 1.840, several hundred seamen having been turned 
ashore with their pockets lined with money, the town 
for some weeks was alive with Jack and his follies. 
Hungry sharks, both black and white, gave them no 
rest while their dollars remained. What with the 
rush of sailor horsemen through the streets, for every 
nag far and near had been pressed into the service 
and the bursts of merriment from every quarter j 
the roll of ihe bowling-alleys, and bacchanalian 
shouts, it was anything but a quiet place for its 
peaceful denizens. Jack fairly ' put the town in 
stays,' and yet no one was disposed to look harshly 
upon his endeavors to amuse himself, so heartily did 
he seem to work for it. Some scenes were comic 
enough. A party in one street got up a race between 
two fellows, drunk as drunk could be and yet keep 
on horse-back. The stakes were placed in the hands 
of a disinterested native, and the word < go ' shouted. 
Off went the riders in a most extraordinary manner, 
and off went the native after a most natural one. in 
the opposite direction. The race was, now, who 
should catch him. Another son of Neptune, in 
riding out to take the air, found himself, to his inex- 
pressible annoyance, pitching forward, in a most pe- 
culiar manner, and to a complete sacrifice of all 
graces of equestrianship. Not in the least suspect- 
ing the cause could lie with himself, he declared that 
the fore legs of the horse were shorter than his hind, 
and to satisfy the spectators of the fact, got off and 
measured them. Another powerful fellow, having 
somewhat deviated from the w T ays of propriety, was 



SAILOR DISSIPATION. 41 

confined in ihe fort. Here the shortness of the grub 
agreed not at all with his shore appetite. Managing 
to free himself from his irons, he seized a club, 
knocked down the sentinel, rushed out of the fort, 
and, encountering the armed patrol, put them to 
flight, and for some time was fairly master of the 
town. Several seamen likewise imprisoned, not be- 
ing able to escape, their comrades determined to 
release them, and these comedies wellnigh terminat- 
ed in a tragedy. Having armed themselves with 
such weapons as they could lay hands upon, they pre- 
pared to storm the fort. The Governor, apprising 
Commanders Wilkes and Hudson of the state of af- 
fairs, they immediately set off for the scene of action, 
and found their men duly prepared to carry their 
designs into execution. But the authority of their 
captains overawed them, and after giving up their 
arms they peaceably retired. 

Such are some of the effects of the introduction 
o£ liquor freely into an island seaport. In no place 
could a Washingtonian society be productive of 
more good in proportion to the foreign population, 
(intemperance is not a common vice among the na- 
tives,) for in no other is there a greater proportion of 
individuals engaged in the traffic in ardent spirits ; 
and daily about the streets are to be seen painful 
instances of fine abilities and prospects partially or 
wholly ruined by habitual intoxication. 

A higher moral tone is beginning to prevail, and 

elements exist which, if properly nurtured, will render 

Honolulu free from such scenes. Many generous 

hearts and humane spirits exist there. They need 

4^ 



42 POLICE. CLIMATE. COMMERCE. 

but to be aroused from the lethargy which long ab- 
sence from civilized lands, and habitude to such 
scenes, have engendered. In no place is misfortune 
more freely comforted, or hospitality more abun- 
dantly bestowed. If the vices of Honolulu are 
boldly conspicuous, its virtues are none the less so. 

Quiet reigns through the streets at night. A late 
law obliges all seamen to retire to their ships by nine 
o'clock, P. M., and no native, except by permission, 
is allowed to be out after that hour. A strong body 
of police enforces this salutary regulation. 

To a valetudinarian, few places offer more induce- 
ments for a residence. The climate is warm wilhout 
being too debilitating. Dry and yet not checking 
perspiration. Suliry nights are unknown. Good 
board, pleasant society, all the necessaries and most 
of the luxuries of life are at command. Bv varying 
the location through the different islands, any degree 
of heat or cold, dryness or dampness, can be obtained. 
At Honolulu are now residing in active health, indi- 
viduals whose lives would long since have paid the 
forfeit had they remained within a less genial zone. 
Fruits, vegetables, and meats are abundant, and an- 
nually becoming cheaper. It requires but the com- 
pletion of the Panama canal to render the Hawaiian 
Islands a most desirable resort for invalids. The 
United States will then be brought within a voyage of 
two months, and that at suitable seasons, through the 
most qniet portion of the great oceans, presenting 
many interesting points in the track. 

As a commercial centre its importance is great, 
and every year further developes this fact. It forms 



a stranger's first impressions. 43 

an excellent depot for goods for the Mexican, Rus- 
sian, Chinese, and California n markets, and, like 
Singapore, it must eventually become a mart for the 
nations of the Pacific. Already its harbor is border- 
ed with ample warehouses, while wharves afford ev- 
ery facility for loading or discharging. Its ship-yards 
for repairing vessels are unsurpassed in that ocean. 
Artisans of every craft are numerous. Stores are 
abundant; in short, the materials to attract commerce 
are there, and yearly its advantages are more fully 
appreciated. A visitor does not perceive all this at the 
first glance. Coming from a civilized world, the for- 
eign houses, the signs of refinement and improve- 
ment, do not attract his notice. These he is accus- 
tomed to. It is the half-clad semi-barbarian, the 
naked children splashing, leaping, and swimming 
about the vessel like so many amphibious animals, 
that first draws his eye. The rude canoe shoots over 
the water — a foreign jargon, apparently harsh and 
inharmonious greets his ear. He looks inland and 
beholds strange natural scenery, extinct volcanos, 
and spectre-like cocoa-nut trees. The town appears 
much like a collection of hay ricks. The numerous 
thatched habitations, with their low doors, small win- 
dows, half demolished mud walls — too often pigs 
within and children without, dirt every where, dogs 
caressed and offspring neglected, these and much else 
that is queer, surprises and confuses him. In time he 
learns to distinguish, amid this chaos, all the inter- 
mediate stages from the veriest filth and poverty, 
crime and licentiousness, the Medusa-like offspring 
of former heathenism, in which the vices and none of 



44 NATIVE MANNERS. 

the virtues of civilization have rooted themselves, to 
the orderly households of even native families. He 
will see that some of their habitations are well built, 
neatly furnished to the extent of their means, and 
children clothed and cared for. In short, Christianity 
and civilization have set their seal upon many such. 
Industry and orderly habits are to be found. But it 
must be confessed that the habitations of the lowest 
orders are beyond description, vile. Dirt and vermin 
abound in them. A few ragged mats, a bottle or 
too, an old stool, some calabashes and a few dresses 
of cotton or calico constitute the sum total of their 
worldly effects. We find books, however, few na- 
tives being without a Bible, hymn-book, and the ele- 
mentary school works. These abodes are shared in 
common with swine, dogs, and poultry, who arc quite 
upon a par with their biped comrades. An old wo- 
man, whose uncovered cuticle hangs in deep folds 
about her person, pets an enormous hog, which roots 
about her uttering most affectionate salutations. 
Young and old of both sexes are mutually employed 
in searching heads in pursuit of the tiny game, which 
affords a choice morsel. The internal economy of 
these houses is of the most gregarious character. 
Men and women, boys and girls, fathers and daugh- 
ters, mothers and sons, brothers and sisters, married 
and single, lay aside all modesty, (which with very 
many is like wearing clothing, a habit borrowed from 
the whites, troublesome in itself, and only to be used 
before them,) and with the utmost nonchalance ap- 
pear only in the bronzed suit nature has provided 
them. Often the same mat is shared at night by all, 



NATIVE MANNERS 45 

and the same tapa covers them. Horrible, says the 
visitor, what savages! Stop, gentle sir, open this 
gate, which stands so conspicuously in this neat 
white wall. Within, a well laid-out garden meets 
the view ; arbors of grape vines, a fish pond, many 
kinds of forest trees, flowers in full bloom, a well 
brushed greensward. This is very pretty. Here is 
a neat office. Enter; books, table, secretary, and 
writing apparatus, all fit for a gentleman's study. 
Look there ; a kitchen, neat and in good order — 
here a bath room, all in separate buildings, as is the 
fashion in these islands. Now we will peep into the 
drawing-room. It is a thatched building, but how 
very pretty and airy. The posts are all painted, the 
thatch laid on as smooth as can be. Paintings adorn 
the walls ; the best China matting is on the floor; 
the furniture is abundant, comfortable and handsome. 
Look into the bed-room ; that bed-stead is made 
from a cabinet wood grown on the island, than which 
no other country can produce a more beautiful. The 
counterpane is as white as snow. Examine every 
thing, cupboards and all; Yankee house-keepers 
would say that every thing 'was as neat as wax.' 
And it is, indeed, so ; crack and corner all alike 
clean. This is certainly a model for any one. Yet 
friend, this house is the residence of a pure Hawaiian, 
and single also. And you will find him as neat in 
person as he is in his house, and withal an intelli- 
gent, clever fellow. He was a common native once, 
but has raised himself mainly by his own exertions 
to high offices, and the confidence of the king. He 
' is now upon a special mission to the governments 



46 MISSION BUILDINGS. STREET SCENES. 

of the United States, England, and France. His 
name is Haalilio. 

Great as are the contrasts between the two resi- 
dences described, I have seen as great in Central 
America, Peru, and Chili, and of all those countries, I 
apprehend that Hawaii is advancing with the most 
rapidity in the path of order and civilization. The 
buildings of the American mission are situated at 
the two extremes of the town, the east and west, and 
three quarters of a mile apart. Hard by the bridge, 
and immediately opposite his church, is the residence 
of the Rev. Lowell Smith. Towards the east, and 
near the stone church, the property of the mission is 
chiefly concentrated. Seven dwelling-houses, a 
printing office, bindery, workshop, and storehouse, 
which with the property in them are valued at forty 
thousand dollars. The buildings are large and com- 
modious, but I shall have occasion in another place 
to speak of missionary comforts as well as trials. 

The streets of Honolulu afford many novel and 
amusing spectacles. They furnish a sort of pano- 
rama of the transition and progress between old 
habits and new — past ideas and present. Ladies 
and gentlemen in fashionable finery, officers in uni- 
forms, gigs and carriages, (the latter somewhat rare 
it must be confessed,) jostle with the rude savage 
from the interior, the maro his only covering and his 
calloused shoulders groaning beneath a heavy load. 
Indeed, I shall not soon forget my sensation of awk- 
wardness on my first arrival in Honolulu, while es- 
corting a lady-resident through the streets. One of 
these fellows, as naked as an Apollo de Belvidere, 



STREET SCENES. 47 

with the exception of the miserable apology for a 
elolh about his loins, met us ; he was the first I had 
seen. I did as any one would have done just arrived, 
green from a land of clothing; gazed very intently 
in another direction, while he brushed by. We 
passed others in our walk and I soon looked upon 
them as unconcernedly as my fair friend, and I had 
not been a month in the place, before that sort of 
costume had become so natural, that thousands might 
have gone by, and unless my attention was particu- 
larly directed to them, I could not have told, whether 
they were clad or not. So much for the common- 
ness of the thing. There is something vulgar in an 
exposed white skin ; but a red one is so much like 
many other hues in trees and rocks or walls about 
one, that a perfect indifference to the common expo- 
sure of the person as seen in all warm climates 
among the indigenous inhabitants, is soon acquired. 
To return to the crowd. Native women, possessing 
but little more of the world's goods about them, and 
displaying sights which do not tend to increase ad- 
miration for their sex, saunter lazily about. The 
common dress of the women consists simply of a 
loose gown, of cotton or calico. The younger and 
handsomer pay great attention to their toilet, and es- 
pecially towards evening throng the streets, decked 
out in the gayest colored calicos, silk or satins ; their 
hair is either done up after the latest fashions imitated 
from the foreign ladies, or is encircled with rich and 
expensive wreaths made from feathers. The less 
wealthy wear those made from the beautiful crimson 
blossoms of the oliia tree. The effect of either is 



48 STREET SCENES. 

very good, though the latter has somewhat of a bac- 
chanalian appearance. Among these girls one occa- 
sionally meets with a very good face, bnt their coun- 
tenances generally are dark and broad, and with rather 
gross features. For all thai, they are as sensible of 
admiration as the most civilized belle, and parade 
their charms and finery with an air of quite as much 
self-satisfaction. 

Here we see also drays hauled by brute cattle and 
human cattle. And not ihe least curious objects, are 
the little, low, four-wheeled vehicles, a sort of medi- 
um between a hand-cart and a wheelbarrow, drawn 
by a native in front, while another pushes in the rear. 
These are used by the foreign ladies in their fashion- 
able calls and shopping. Strapping stout fellows, 
bearing on a stick a few side combs or pipes, the 
value of the whole not amounting to a couple of 
dimes, while away the entire day in attempts to 
peddle their goods. Market men, balancing their 
wares which are placed in calabashes slung at the two 
ends of a pole, which is supported at ihe middle on 
their shoulders, adroitly push their way about ihe 
crowd. The gain-seeking industrious but dissipated 
Chinese in their snowy-white costume, with their 
long tails of braided hair reaching to their feet, the 
jovial tar making the most of his brief reprieve from 
the forecastle, in short, nondescripts of all classes, 
ages, sizes, and colors complete the scene. The 
clothing put into requisition is of the most varied and 
fantastic character. One man with all the self-satis- 
faction of a gentleman of fashion, * comme il fautj 
may be seen promenading with nothing on except 



STREET SCENES. 49 

his maro and a pair of warm mittens ; another with 
only a coat ; some with shirt, vest, and coat, minus 
the pants — others with shirts outside their pants; 
boys with men's clothing; men with boys,' so short 
and tight they can only waddle, and appear as ill at 
ease as monkeys in clothing. Many, however, are 
perfectly well clad, and these incongruities are yearly 
disappearing, as the resources and knowledge of the 
common orders increase. Singular displays happen 
not unfrequently, in the efforts to appear fine at a 
marriage. A bridegroom who had not the where- 
withal himself, (it was in the country,) borrowed of 
a friend a huge green blanket over-coat, a dickey, and 
a pair of fisherman's boots, the thermometer being at 
ninety degrees. Thus equipped he joined his bride, 
who was arrayed in a new cotton garment, her only 
dress. The twain hurried to the residence of a mis- 
sionary, who soon made them one, The husband 
restored his wedding suit to its owner, passing the 
honey-moon, as he had his life previous, shirtless. 

A spirit of waggery or good-humored blackguard- 
ism exists to a great extent, and they enjoy a joke as 
heartily as the Irish. The discomfited party receives 
no quarter. They are frequently serious upon trifles, 
and the reverse. I bought some eggs of a market- 
man, at my door. After he was paid, he commen- 
ced crying in a most piteous manner; his grief quite 
overcame him. Upon inquiring the cause, he replied — 
' his " aloha" (love,) for the eggs was very great indeed 
— he could not part with them.' At times you will 
hear one calling to another across the street, i I have 
5 



50 DOG FEAST. 

been born again, have you ? ' referring to a change 
of heart. 

None should leave Oahu before partaking of a 
feast after the native manner. This the hospitality 
of the residents seldom fails to provide. A spacious 
thatched house is usually selected in a retired spot in 
one of the valleys, fresh mats laid upon the floor, 
and the roof decorated with flags, flowers, and shrubs. 
The table is spread upon the ground, upon which 
the guests stretch themselves out likewise. A pleas- 
ant position by way of variety, but painful after 
it ceases so to be. Dog, baked on hot stones in the 
ground, or htancd, as it is here termed, from which 
the entertainment derives its name litem, constitutes 
the chief attraction. All strangers profess to be de- 
sirous to taste dog, and they seldom leave disap- 
pointed. If they manifest any disapprobation, they 
are then helped to pig, alias a dog with a pig's head 
and feet ingeniously attached, which invariably is 
pronounced very fine. So much for the reputation 
of Oahu poi-fed pork. 

The Hawaiian method of cooking is excellent. 
The rich juices of the meats or fish are preserved, 
and a delicious flavor imparted from the taro leaves 
in which they are enveloped. But the choicest mor- 
ceaux are the fine mullet, raised in artificial ponds 
by the chiefs, where they are fed until they attain a 
great size and fatness. They are seldom to be ob- 
tained, except as a gift, being reserved exclusively 
for the aristocrats of the land. The chiefs are great 
epicures in their own way, reversing the order of 
civilized gourmands, who usually prefer their meats 



SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 51 

in a green state, while they esteem it an additional 
relish to have their fishes alive, and some of the 
smaller sort are eaten in that condition. 

There are few spectacles more novel and interest- 
ing to a stranger, than that to be witnessed frequently 
in this town, on a Saturday afternoon ; and as it is 
one which yearly is losing its originality and becom- 
ing tempered by increasing civilization, I am induced 
to devote a few lines to preserving such of its feat- 
ures as may be interesting to those who are fond of 
reviewing things ' all of the olden time.' It is a gala 
day for all classes, and is improved to its fall ex- 
tent by the natives. He who has never seen Ha- 
waiian horsemanship, and the display of fashions 
that flourish at that time, can form but a faint con- 
ception of the scene. Picture to yourself, on the 
wide plain to the east of the town, all the natives as- 
sembled, from the tiniest urchin, to the portly poi-fed 
adult, weighing but little short of three hundred and 
fifty pounds, who have been so fortunate as to find, 
four legs besides their own, beneath them. Their 
Rosinantes are of every shape and hue, as may 
readily be imagined ; no beast being allowed to 
plead an alibi on so momentous an occasion — a 
motley assemblage they form, from the meek, all- 
enduring jackass, carrying double, to the kicking,biting, 
backing mule, whose greatest recommendation is the 
facility with which he can dislodge his rider — from 
the leanest, lankest, rib-protruding horse that can 
scarce hold itself up, to the proud steed that disdains 
the ground on which he lightly treads. Of saddles, 
the majority have none — a dirty piece of kapa in- 



52 SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 

tervenes between the dark skin of some and the 
galled back of the unpitied animal which they stride 

— others, whose resources are more extensive, are 
seated upon a triangular frame of wood, over which 
a rough piece of hide is thrown, their feet upheld by 
stirrups of rope or wood, and envied is the individ- 
ual that can command a complete fit-out. The bri- 
dles are quite as various and primitive as the rest of 
the equipments — a rope, noose, or nothing — on 
goes this cavalcade, upon the run, trot, or hobble, 
helter skelter, whooping and shouting, like so many 
Cossacks in a hourra, plying their heavy spurs to the 
horses' flanks, their loose kapas streaming in the 
wind, bare-headed and bare-breeched, away they 
scamper, enveloped in a cloud of dust. Enjoyment 
with them is ' neck or nothing.' Indeed, a Hawaiian, 
of the baser sort, when mounted upon a half-broken 
colt, into which he has infused, by dint of kick and 
blow, his own impatient spirit, with his naked legs 
close clung under its belly, his body bent forward to 
an angle of forty-five degrees, tossing one arm into 
the air to increase the already headlong course of his 
steed, may be said to be extremely happy. Glory or 
ambition have no further charms for him — Alexan- 
der taming Bucephalus was a fool to him. 

In striking contrast to this scene is a little group of 
youngsters, who have succeeded in ensnaring some 
stray donkey in their toils. Luckless victim ! How 
quiet he stands as they attempt to mount his bruised 
sides. Now one succeeds — he 's off — another tries 

— off again — scrambling, pulling, laughing — they 
enjoy it, if the donkey does not. Such fun ; one, 



SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 53 

two, three are at last mounted upon the diminutive 
animal, their feet dangling to the ground, their com- 
panions whipping and pushing to get headway upon 
him, so their turn may come next. The poor beast 
can endure no longer ; he makes a convulsive start, 
much like a locomotive, and with a jerk leaves his 
riders sprawling in the dust. 

Let no one suppose that these John Gilpin rides 
are confined exclusively to the sterner sex. Far 
from it. This equestrian fever burns as brightly in 
the bosoms of their better parts, as in their own — 
contemning alike beaux, side-saddles, and all the 
garniture so much esteemed by their civilized sisters. 
It is not an uncommon sight to see two astride of 
the same animal, careless alike of looks, conveni- 
ence, or display of limb, so it be but a ride, and fast 
enough. It is beyond our power to do their costume 
justice. It usually consists of bright-colored calico 
loose-gowns, with a kihei, or piece of red, green, 
yellow, or black silk, or some less costly material, 
wrapped tightly round their waist, and encircling their 
nether members in loose and graceful folds. Shoes 
and stockings are luxuries not to be aspired to, by 
every maiden. Wreaths of flowers or feathers deck 
their brows, and necklaces of the odoriferous hala- 
nut hang upon their bosoms, while their bright eyes 
sparkle with triumph as they look down upon the 
staring pedestrian. Mingling with the less showy 
horsemen, they present a most picturesque coup d'~ 
ceil. But to produce this spectacle in all its novelty, 
His Hawaiian Majesty and Court must be present, 
mounted on noble animals, handsomely capari- 
5* 



54 SATURDAY AFTERNOON. 

soned, and joining in the crowd in all the pride and 
state of conscious rank. Add to this the brilliant 
uniforms of naval officers that may be in port, and 
the neat costume of the residents, some on horse- 
back, others sporting gigs or curricles, and we have 
a mixture of rude barbarism, and show of civiliza- 
tion, with every intervening grade, which no other 
island in Polynesia can equal. Here are found peo- 
ple of all tongues and nations — English, Scotch, 
and Irish — Russians, Americans, and Frenchmen 
— Spaniards, Danes, and Swedes — Portuguese, 
Japanese, and Chinese — Lascar and Arabian ■ — - 
the kakaued Marquesian, the Tahitian, Samoan, and 
forbidding New Zealander, besides many others 
whose origin seems to be a combination of every 
variety, all gathered together for one purpose, pleas- 
ore ; but the chiefest pleasure is to gaze upon them. 
On days when races are to take place, the crowd 
and variety are greater than ever. But the most 
striking part of the scene occurs towards evening. 
During the afternoon, the populace, dressed in their 
best attire, which being of bright colors, makes them 
look like a crowd of harlequins, or a parterre of va- 
riegated flowers, to the number of many thousands, 
assemble in the main street, to witness the compli- 
cated feats of horsemanship, such as leaping, plung- 
ing, racing, kicking, tumbling, (off sometimes,) and 
various other approved methods of showing off, 
much in vogue here, among some ambitious youth, 
and greatly to the edification of the gaping crowd, 
though somewhat to the danger of their curious per- 
sons. However, this fiery zeal soon exhausts itself, 



NUUANU VALLEY. TARO PLANT. 



55 



and as it grows dark the motley multitude on the 
plain commence their return, usually preceded by his 
Majesty and suite, who ride leisurely along, that ple- 
beian eyes may gaze their fill on royal and patrician 
forms. Pride of blood holds full sway here — no- 
where has it more sincere worshippers. The re- 
mainder make their way to their several homes; 
some quietly, and others furiously dashing through 
the crowd, which scamper from them right and 
left. By night the streets have regained their usual 
quiet, and a few stragglers are all that are to be seen 
of the late gathering. 

Out of town, the chief point of attraction is Nuu- 
anu valley. At its mouth lie the numerous little taro 
plantations, which afford the chief sustenance for the 
native population. The taro or kalo is planted in 
square or oblong beds of various sizes, prepared with 
much labor and expense. The soil is a soft rich 
mud, kneaded and trod into the consistency of a 
thick paste. The plant is propagated by simply 
setting out the tops of the ripe root; the water is 
then let in upon them, and retained by means of 
impervious embankments. Great skill is displayed 
in irrigating and cultivating these lands. The taro 
arrives at maturity in from twelve to twenty-four 
months, and there is no prettier sight in the agricul- 
tural kingdom than to look down upon the valleys 
planted with this vegetable. The regularity of the 
plantations, the intervening foot-paths, and the brown 
tints of the overshadowing hills, contrast beautifully 
with the deep, rich green of its lily-shaped leaves, 
as they wave over their watery beds. The root is of 



56 COUNTRY RESIDENCES. 

a dark color, and in form like a beet. In its natural 
state, it is extremely acrid to the taste, but when ba- 
ked, boiled or fried, is inferior to no vegetable. It 
is a good substitute for bread ; being much superior 
to the bread fruit, and is healthy and nutritious. By 
the natives it is usually prepared in the form of a 
thick paste, called poi 9 and not eaten until it has fer- 
mented and become sour. No other product yields 
more food to a given space of land, and none is 
more profitable to the agriculturalist. 

A good carriage-road runs through these planta- 
tions, for five miles up the valley until it reaches the 
thickly wooded land, where the hills become so ab- 
rupt, ravines so deep, and forest so dense, that it is 
tiresome for even the equestrian to penetrate farther. 
But Nuuanu is classic ground to the Oahuian. Here 
was fought their last bloody battle for independence; 
here fell their gallant monarch, and the brave, am- 
bitious, but treacherous Kiana. In beauty, stat- 
ure and accomplishments, nature's true nobleman.* 

Here the impetuous and ever victorious Kame- 
hameha drove his routed foe, with slaughter, through 
its dark passes, until they reached the brink of the 
palL when death by the musket or spear, or the fatal 
leap from its summit, awaited them. Some escaped 
in the gloom of the forests, but many were sacrificed 
by being driven headlong over its brink. It is a 
wild and beautiful spot. After riding through the 
cultivated lands of the valley, passing the numerous 
country lodges of the foreigners which dot its sur- 

*For a likeness of this individual, see vignette, title-page to His- 
tory of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands. 



SCENERY OF THE VALLEY. 57 

face, the land gradually ascends, and the valley nar- 
rows as the visitor recedes from the sea, until he 
enters upon the woody portion, where the mountains, 
approaching each other, attain an elevation of a little 
short of four thousand feet. Emerging from these 
copses he nears the termination of the valley, where 
the mountains, abruptly receding from their lofty pin- 
nacles, meet in the sweep of a semi-circle, present- 
ing broken peaks, which in the distance resemble the 
parapets of a ruined fortification- Approaching 
them, he enters a foot-path which winds for a short 
space among them, until turning the outer peak, a 
coup d'asil greets him, as unexpected as it is grand 
and beautiful. Standing upon the offset of a preci- 
pice of six hundred feet elevation, the eye takes in 
at a glance the rich panorama. On either side form- 
ing one vast circular wall, for a dozen miles or more, 
the mountains rise precipitately, yet wooded to their 
very summits. In the distance is the ocean,; nearer 
a beautiful bay, dotted with rocky islets, and wash- 
ing the foundations of volcanic headlands, hoary 
with age, Beneath him, lies a fertile plain ; groves, 
hamlets, and small streams varying its expanse ; at 
its further border the sun discloses the bright walls of 
the buildings of the mission station at the village of 
Kaneohe. The whole appears as if it had once 
formed an immense crater, the seaward side of 
which had subsided into the waters, discharging its 
fiery contents into the ocean. Time, however, has 
clothed the whole in Nature's most pleasing hues. 
Native ingenuity and foreign art have made a com- 



58 PALI, OR PRECIPICE. 



paratively easy path to the plain, from which much 
of the marketing for Honolulu is derived. When 
the trades are the freshest, the wind rushes with 
great force through this pass, as through a tunnel, 
and, spreading over the valley, reaches Honolulu 
with scarcely abated violence. 



CHAPTER II. 

Village of Waikiki. — Ruined House. — Diamond Head. — Ruined 
Temple. — Manoa Valley. — Singular Crater. — White Man turn- 
ed Savage. — Little Old Man. — Anecdote of. — Chief hung. — 
Forgery. — Sunday at Honolulu. — At Tahiti. — Fashions. — 
Remarkable disappearance of Dresses after Religious Service. — 
Corsets in use ; — Out of use. — Chiefs Entertainments. — Extra- 
ordinary Preparations in honor of Captain Finch, U. S. N. — 
Children of Missionaries. — Danger to their Morals. — Painful 
instances of Degradation at Tahiti. — Boarding School Estab- 
lished at Oahu. — Sports of Native Youth. — Musical Kites. — 
Pearl River. — Ewa. — Church and Station. — Waialua. — 
Manual Labor School. — Its Success. — Ruins of a Temple, and 
Site of a Tribe of Cannibals. — North Side of Oahu. — Legends. 
— Love of the Marvellous. — Poetry. — Example of Modern 
Style. — Shipwrecked Japanese. — Account of. — System of Nu- 
merals. 

The village of Waikiki, four miles to the east of 
Honolulu, built under a beautiful grove of cocoa- 
nut trees, bordering the beach, was the former capi- 
tal. In it still remain the ruins of a stone house, 
once the residence of the conqueror Kamehameha. 
A mile beyond, and at the base of Leahi, the old 
well known crater of Diamond Point, whose chalky- 
sides form so conspicuous a head-land, is a relic of 
paganism. It is a heiau or temple, built of stone, 
and in very good preservation. Its length is about 
one hundred and thirty feet, and its breadth seventy. 
The walls are of black lava, compact, and well 
built ; several feet thick at their base and about two 



60 MANOA VALLEY. 

feet wide at the summit, which is from four to eight 
feet in elevation. Its altars, sacred houses, and sa- 
cerdotal accommodations have long since crumbled 
into dust. Upon its walls, the heads of Kiana, the 
king of Oahu, and other slain chieftains in the battle 
of Nuuanu, were impaled. Hecatombs of victims 
have perished within its precincts, and it will remain 
for generations, the dark and repulsive type to the 
Hawaiian, of what this nation once was ; while the 
dreary and frowning crest of Leahi, rising above, 
alike recalls the mind to that period when the fires 
and heavings of the earth beneath, spread terror and 
destruction among the affrighted inhabitants. They 
stand well beside each other; one, the puny and 
desolate monument of man's apostasy; the volcano, 
the wrathful sign, that Nature shared the curse of 
Adam's crime. 

Manoa valley is a beautiful spot. As a vessel 
passes Diamond Point, and comes abreast of Wai- 
kikij this valley opens to view. High mountains 
enclose it on every side, except toward the sea, from 
which it appears like the interior of a vast natural 
bowl, overgrown with dense shrubbery, and forests, 
into whose gloom the sun rarely penetrates. In the 
valley beyond this, which from the difficulty of ac- 
cess, is rarely visited, are two curious objects ; the 
one a freak of nature, the other of man. Ascending 
by a narrow foot-palh, a spur of the mountain at its 
upper end, the explorer enters upon a dense region 
of vegetation, wearisome to penetrate, but from its 
novelty and richness, enticing. After hours of up- 
hill scrambling, slipping, pushing, and dodging, he 



A WHITE SAVAGE. 61 

finds he has made considerable advance. A vacant 
space bursts upon him ; he perceives that he is at the 
source of one of those pure streams of water, that dash 
in numerous cascades down the mountain sides, and 
meandering through the vales beneath, diverted by- 
native skill into a thousand channels, give life and 
growth to the thirsty crops near the sea. Pushing 
aside the heavy foliage of the giant trees that sur- 
round him, a deep hollow circle is described. 
Clouds almost perpetually rest upon the summits of 
the mountains that surround the dell, the bottom of 
which is overgrown with dank grass and reeds, and 
is wet and miry. It is in a region of constant show- 
ers, and the dampness arising from its misty bosom, 
admonishes one not to tarry long. A glance suffices 
to show the great depth and regularity of the hollow, 
which doubtless wet as it now is, once was the 
abode of a far different element. Its shape and situ- 
ation both define it as a crater, and that too of no 
ordinary extent. 

Returning from an excursion to this place, with a 
friend, we stopped near the foot of the hills at a na- 
tive house. It was of the most ordinary character, 
of straw, a few feet high only, with a low and nar- 
row entrance, more fit for dogs than men. A herd 
of swine were making themselves at home in and 
about it. There was abundance of Hawaiian wealth 
moving about; that is to say, quadrupeds and feath- 
ered bipeds. But filth was the most prominent char- 
acteristic. At our approach, the inhabitants, both 
brute and human, poured out to meet us, with a noisy 
chorus of ' aloha,' love to you, the yelping of curs, 
6 



62 LITTLE OLD MAN. 

and the grunting of the more stately animal. One 
of the men at once attracted my attention. He had 
nothing on but a shirt which had seen long and 
faithful service, guiltless of soap or water. His hair 
was white and upright — his beard long and gray — 
his eyes red and sunken — his limbs attenuated, 
grimed with dirt, yet their original color seemed to 
have been white. He stood gaping curiously 
at us, surrounded by the noisy retinue. To me he 
appeared like one of those deformities in the human 
race, which nature seems occasionally to indulge in, 
as if to show how repulsive 'the human form 
divine' can be made. ' What a singular object,' I 
exclaimed, ' how horrible.' ' Hush,' said my com- 
panion, 'he understands English,' and so we passed 
on. He then told me his history. Once he was a 
respectable white man, and of a good family — but 
drunkenness had ruined him many years ago. Sud- 
denly he vanished from Honolulu, and his where- 
abouts was not known for a long while, unlil he was 
found living in this plight, away from the white man, 
and among the rudest of the Hawaiians. There are 
several instances here somewhat similar. Men who 
have cast off every outward sign of civilization, and 
forgotten that they ever saw a land of freedom and 
knowledge. Men who have adopted the vices of the 
savage, as well as his costume, language, and man- 
ners, so that it requires a sharp eye to discriminate 
between the two. They are content to fawn about 
low chiefs, for the sake of eating the food of idle- 
ness. But the Hawaiian Islands will soon cease to 
support such. There is a little old man, of some- 



CHIEF HUNG. 63 

what better deportment than this class, who lives, as 
he was preserved, by the kindness of a chief-woman, 
of uncommon dimensions. He had deserted from a 
whale-ship, and taken refuge in her house. His pur- 
suers tracked him thither, and his capture seemed 
inevitable. But being a favorite of the patrician 
dame, her ready wit soon suggested a safe retreat. 
There was no bed that he could creep under, but 
there was something which was rather safer. Seat- 
ing herself, she made a sign, and the lucky wight 
crept under— -no matter what — but it was where, 
thanks to her obesity, he had sufficient room, and 
where no one would have ventured to have pursued, 
had even a suspicion of his locality occurred. The 
officers arrived and sought, but sought in vain, while 
the old lady maintained an immovable gravity, and 
politely entertained them. After their departure he 
was released. 

But Honolulu is rapidly giving signs of increas- 
ing civilization. Justice at her police court is dealt 
with a rapidity and fairness, truly edifying to all ex- 
cept criminals. In 1840, a chief, having become en- 
amored of another woman, undertook to rid himself 
of his lawful wife. Uniting himself with another 
man, whose desires were similar, the twain prepared 
a violent vegetable poison, which was to be given to 
the spouse of the chief at a feast prepared for that 
purpose. It was infused into awa, which was handed 
her to drink. She did so, complained that it was 
bitter, and, after suffering much, died in three hours, 
first asserting that her husband had poisoned her. 
The criminals were tried by jury, convicted, and 



64 FORGERY. — • SUNDAY AT HONOLULU. 

finally confessed their crime. The trial was con- 
ducted equitably, and with dignity, every favor the 
law permitted being allowed the prisoners. The 
chief being of high rank, it was supposed that he would 
be pardoned. But the majesty of the law was vin- 
dicated, and both were publicly hung. Another 
chief undertook to forge a will, purporting to be in 
his favor and that of the king's, from Hoapili, the 
old governor of Maui. But the forgery was proved 
upon him, his property was confiscated to the state, 
and he banished to the island of Kahoolawe, the 
abode of criminals, where he remains chief among 
them. Verily ! the land in which murder erects the 
gallows, and forgery cannot thrive, even among the 
noble and powerful, is not bad. 

Sunday culls out the best attire of the whole pop- 
ulation. On that day, stockings and shoes grace the 
feet, and bonnets the heads, of dames, who, during 
the rest of the week, are guiltless of any such display. 
The churches are crowded, and the congregations 
really appear well. Incongruities in taste of course 
appear among those for whom want of means and 
knowledge are sufficient apologies for not being par- 
ticularly exact as to fit and shades. But all are clean, 
and quiet, and happy. Order and silence reign, ex- 
cept about the Romish chapel, where the throats of 
the faithful seem to take a special license on that 
day. However, as they indulge only in the merry 
converse of youthful and roguish spirits, there is 
nothing to find fault with. The difference between 
the Hawaiian ladies and the Tahitian is at no time 
more apparent than on the Sabbath. The former 



SUNDAY AT TAHITI. FASHIONS. 65 

appear staid, and wear dresses mostly of puritanical 
plainness. They walk home from church in them 
also, and all appear serious and thoughtful, as they 
trudge along with their children clinging to one hand, 
and their holy books in the other. Not so the Tahi- 
tians. Of better forms, lighter complexions, and fairer 
countenances, they don all the finery which money 
and the island can afford. The church is filled with 
French caps, bonnets, laces, ribbons, muslin frocks, 
all of the most showy and fragile description. The 
more that can be piled on, the better. It is some- 
what comical to see their dark, high-cheek-boned 
faces almost lost amid the delicate productions of the 
needles of Europe. Onions in Flora's choicest 
bouquets would not look more outre. So that their 
heads resemble the specimen-blocks at a milliner's 
windows, their feet may take care of themselves. 
The galleries resemble a tulip-bed, that is, provided 
the eye fixes itself at a certain altitude. But should 
it be disposed to wander a little lower, it will see 
rows of bare feet stuck through the supports of the 
railing, looking for all the world like the bulbs of as 
many variegated flowers. But the way they leave 
the church is an example for all who have a discreet 
care of their outward gear. Many, I do not say all, 
take off their bonnets ; next go their frocks, laced, 
fringed petticoats, finally, all that is liable to be spot- 
ted, for the roads are muddy, until the fair ones are 
seen trudging home bare-legged and bare-headed, 
reduced to the native paleo, their national costume 
of yore. Once corsets were all the rage ; their fat 
forms were squeezed into the smallest compass pos- 
6* 



66 ENTERTAINMENTS. 

sible. The veriest martyr to tight boots never bore 
compression more resignedly than these dames, un- 
til one day, a wag told them that they were nothing 
but machines of torture, and would eventually occa- 
sion their deaths. It so happened, the following 
Sunday, a damsel fainted under the squeeze. Hor- 
ror struck, the fair victims, believing the words of the 
white man were being literally fulfilled, thenceforth 
eschewed corsets. 

The chiefs occasionally give entertainments, which, 
by the aid of the ladies of the mission, pass off very 
well. Some small display of plate is made, but 
there is neither sufficient wealth nor taste to prepare 
anything costly or refined. Great improvement in 
the social circle has taken place, however, since 
Stewart wrote in such raptures of the ladies' boudoirs, 
and gentlemen's drawing-rooms, though at that time 
an extraordinary effort was made to impress vis- 
itors favorably. The lady chiefs of the highest rank 
had then determined upon giving Captain Finch and 
his officers a somewhat recherche entertainment. 
Their skill, industry, taste, and resources, were all to 
be exhausted in having it " comme il faut." The 
tables were spread at their best habitation, and the 
ehiefesses, all arrayed in their most costly and civil- 
ized attire, prepared to receive the expected guests. 
Some of the mission ladies, apprehensive that room 
for improvement might still remain, notwithstanding 
the degree of the hosts, shortly before the company 
were to arrive, took a peep at the state of things. 
Imagine their consternation upon entering the hall, 
amid all the splendor of the preparations, to see 



CHILDREN OF MISSION ARIES. 67 

placed before each seat, to the number of thirty, or 
so, a huge white (to ears polite) nameless something, 
but precisely the same article that a certain Persian 
ambassador, at London, once being short of crockery 
at a party, made use of to serve up ices in. The 
chiefesses, with great reluctance, were prevailed upon 
to banish the obnoxious ornaments, though, from not 
being sent expeditiously to a suitable distance, other 
eyes caught glimpses of them during the evening. 

A great draw-back upon the prosperity of the 
American mission, heretofore, has been the want of 
means for educating their children. When young, 
they are exposed to the pernicious influence of na- 
tive servants, the best of whom cannot be trusted ; 
not so much, in many cases, from a want of disposi- 
tion to discharge their duties properly, but from igno* 
ranee, and the effects of their early corrupt life. No 
subject or act is too gross for them, accustomed, as 
they have been from their infancy, without the faint- 
est conception of impropriety, to sights and conver- 
sation which would shock the rudest civilized being. 
So well aware are foreign parents of this fact, that 
they leave no step untried to shield their offspring 
from such baneful influences. By many the Hawa- 
iian tongue is prohibited from being spoken in their 
presence ; but this is but a partial preventive, for the 
quick ear of childhood, despite all restrictions, soon 
learns to master a language so easy to acquire. 
Others endeavor to give their whole attention to their 
children, and allow no access whatever on the part 
of the population about them. This is a policy of 
doubtful good, and certainly renders the missionary 



68 DEGRADATION AT TAHITI. 

of little practical use to the people whom he has de- 
voted his life to benefit. The generality receive the 
best attention the circumstances of their parents af- 
ford, and are usually sent, at an early age, to the 
United States, to live upon the bounty of friends, or 
the public ; and as they have but little hope of seeing 
their parents again, to seek their way, under unfavor- 
able circumstances, to independence. As the islands, 
at present, offer but a limited field to the enterprise 
of foreign youth, this becomes almost a necessity, 
and thus it is that ihe good effects produced by mis- 
sion labor upon heathen, are, to some extent, neutral- 
ized by the unfortunate position of their own chil- 
dren. Some may receive benefit by the change, but 
others endure privations and disappointments which 
cannot but affect their whole after life. At the Ha- 
waiian islands, the missionaries, as yet, have not 
been pained by any instance of youthful corruption. 
Their children, for correctness of deportment and 
general intelligence, may bear comparison with those 
of the same age in the United States. But at the 
Society islands, where moral and civilized advan- 
tages have been less, and the system of training dis- 
similar, the case has been widely different. Mis- 
sionaries, there, have had to mourn, not only over 
sons plunged into every species of vice, but daugh- 
ters, even, in some instances, have lost their inno- 
cence, and become as corrupt as the native females 
about them. Their conduct has given rise to the 
well-known reproach on the part of the aborigines, 
1 What can you expect of us, when your own chil- 
dren are no better ? ' With the desire and labor of 



BOARDING SCHOOL. NATIVE SPORTS. 69 

benefiting a people immersed in the grossest sensu- 
ality, they have seen their dearest hopes blighted, and 
their cherished blessings changed to gall and bitter- 
ness. 

To obviate the liability, even, of such evil conse- 
quences at the Hawaiian group, the mission, at their 
annaal meeting at Honolulu in 1841, passed a reso- 
lution to establish a boarding-school, to be under the 
charge of one family of their number, where all the 
children could be accommodated, and enjoy the ben- 
efits of a good English education, entirely secluded 
from native influence. The funds were raised by 
contribution among themselves and their friends, 
and a large building commenced at Punaho, a pretty 
spot two miles from town. Should the circumstan- 
ces of the islands hereafter so change as to afford a 
field for the industry of this numerous class, (for 
they now number upwards of 100,) their parents 
may have the satisfaction of seeing them the stay of 
their old age, and the occupants of new fields of use- 
fulness. 

The sports of the youth of Honolulu are quite 
New-England like. ' Tag, quorum, bat and ball,' 
all have their seasons, and are as heartily enjoyed as 
if each urchin had just left a well-built brick house, 
with clean face and hands, a snow-white collar turn- 
ed over his new broadcloth jacket, and his mamma's 
latest injunction, ' don't soil your clothes,' ringing in 
his ear, as he slammed the door in her face. There 
must be something sincere in the reform of a nation, 
whenever national sports are abandoned, and ration- 
al ones substituted. It is so here. During the win- 



70 MUSICAL KITES. PEARL RIVER. 

ter months, the heavens are assailed with kites of 
every shape, hue, and size, mostly the result of the 
ingenuity of the Chinese portion of the inhabitants. 
Some ingeniously imitate sharks, with their gaping 
mouths, swimming through the air ; others, birds of 
prey darting upon their victims ; the planets all have 
their patterns, and each so naturally made and skil- 
fully flown as to resemble life. But what is truly 
curious, is the musical kite. A doleful noise is heard 
in the air. At times it swells out loudly and mourn- 
fully, like the notes of an organ ; again it subsides 
into a low, monotonous hum ; then it rises into a 
prolonged shriek, varying its cadences according to 
the force of the wind. Until the cause is ascertain- 
ed, the effect is somewhat startling. It is produced 
by some novel mechanism, attached to their kites, by 
the ingenious sons of the celestial empire. 

Leaving Honolulu on the west, a tolerable road 
conducts the traveller to Ewa, or, as it is more com- 
monly called, Pearl River, from the abundance of 
inferior pearls found in its vicinity. Three miles 
from town, a narrow valley, with almost precipitous 
sides, intersects the road. This valley is remarkable 
for the distorted growth of a number of cocoa-nut 
trees, which present the singular appearance of 
healthy, fruit-bearing trees, with trunks shooting from 
the ground at an angle almost parallel with it, and 
then, as it were, turning upon their own tracks, and 
growing in the opposite direction ; the upper half of 
their trunks being nearly at right-angles with the 
lower. The remaining trees of the grove are straight 
and lofty. Ewa is one of those protestant mission- 



EWA. CHURCH AND STATION. 71 

ary stations, so numerous about this group, and 
which, both morally and physically, can, with truth, 
be likened to oases in a desert. Here a track of 
blood-red and dry soil surrounds a small but verdant 
spot, watered by a diminutive stream, on the banks 
of which the native hamlet, is mainly congregated. 
The luxuriant display of the numerous cultivated 
patches, contrasts favorably with the barren aspect of 
the surrounding hills, on one of which is erected the 
church. Environed as it is by a palisade fence, in 
the distance, it resembles more a stockade fort, than a 
temple of peace. Here, as at all the mission stations, 
the domestic habits of the population, their houses, 
and clothing, give evidence that the teachings of 
their instructors are not exclusively confined to the 
interests of the world to come, but that a due regard 
for their welfare and decent appearance in the pres- 
ent life is inculcated. Indeed, each station of this 
nature may be considered as a beacon of civilization ; 
the rays from which are diffused over an extensive 
circle with diminishing brightness as they recede 
from their source, until, in the gloom of the forest, 
or the shores of the far-off sea-side, the Hawaiian 
perpetuates his former social habits, if not his religion. 
This district is the site of a large lagoon. Near its 
mouth a bed of the common edible oyster is found, 
elevated above the water, and in a partially fossilized 
condition. This is the more remarkable, as no liv- 
ing specimen has yet been discovered anywhere in 
the group. A few miles beyond, commences the 
range of mountains which forms the boundary of 
the district of Waianae. A cheerless and barren 



72 WAIALUA. — SCHOOL. TEMPLE. CANNIBALS. 

portion of the island, sparsely populated by an igno- 
rant and restless people. Here the faction of Bold, 
in former days, was strong ; and at the present, Ro- 
manism reckons many converts, and a small chapel 
amid its wild and almost inaccessible recesses. 

Waialua, a mission station on the western portion 
of the island, is a pretty and flourishing village. Be- 
side the family of the pastor, a teacher of the name 
of Locke, under the auspices of the American mis- 
sion, has commenced a boarding-school for boys, 
upon the manual-labor system. About twenty acres 
are under a high state of cultivation, the produce of 
wiiich finds a ready sale at Honolulu, though thirty 
miles distant, and aids in sustaining the establish- 
ment. The combination of labor with instruction is 
judicious, and promises well. 

Inland, ten miles from this village, is a beautiful 
and retired rural spot. Tt lies between two deep ra- 
vines, and resembles, in shape, an ox-bow. The 
only access to it is from towards the sea, over an 
isthmus of but a few yards in widlh. Its area 
embraces several hundred acres, verdant and pic- 
turesque, but now regarded with superstitious 
dread, from once having been the rendezvous of a 
clan of cannibals. The ruins of an extensive heiau 
can still be traced, and the site of the house of the 
chief, who was the terror of the island. Near it, is a 
large flat stone, which goes by the name of ipu kai, 
or meat platter. For on it, as runneth tradition, the 
chief roasted and dissected the victims whom he had 
enticed into his domains, or more boldly seized in 
battle. Three thousand people, living in the imme- 



LOVE OF THE MARVELLOUS. 73 

diate vicinity of the temple, acknowledged him as 
their lord ; of their descendants, but a few families 
remain. Kaanokeewe, a sub-chief, was the princi- 
pal procurer of human flesh for his master's unholy 
orgies. Being a man of prodigious strength, he was 
sure to come off conqueror in single combat, and 
his taste so well agreed with his superior's, that he 
finally destroyed and eat many of his own relatives. 
However, one escaped, and having acquired experi- 
ence in arms, attacked the monster, and killing him, 
put an end to the custom. 

The north side of Oahu affords much rich scenery. 
The gorge of Kaliuaa, in particular, is worthy of 
notice. It was a holy place in by-gone days, and 
numerous temples, and the remains of priestly edi- 
fices, partially overgrown with vegetation, attest its 
former sanctity. Here, also, chiefly resided the 
famed Kamapuaa, the Centaur of Hawaii, half hog 
and half man. Tomes might be compiled of the 
wild traditions, horrible stories, and legendary my- 
thological tales, which still exist among the people, 
and whose influence they feel, and will continue to, 
even after the present generation shall have ceased 
to exist. Letters may be learned, and even sciences 
acquired, but room still continues to be found in the 
mind, though yearly lessened, for the quaint, the 
visionary, and the horrible, which their forefathers 
believed, and trembled to repeat. The dark dell, the 
fabled abode of some forest demon, or that mis- 
shapen rock, whose fancied resemblance to the brute, 
or human form, has occasioned thousands to bow 
down to them, have not entirely lost their spell. The 
7 



74 POETRY. 

outward man spurns at the homage, but the inner 
man confesses the fear. Ghosts and sprites are in 
the day-dreams, as well as the night-visions, of the 
people, and the Hawaii ans continue a superstitious 
and spirit-fearing race. In all their images of the 
supernatural, nothing of the beautiful finds an origin. 
The disgusting or dreadful alone obtains in their 
darkened ideal. There are exceptions among the 
enlightened and better educated, for the preceding 
remark, in its unqualified sense, applies only to the 
lowest orders ; the most numerous class of every 
community. 

A taste for poetical expression prevails to a very 
considerable extent.* The following composition 
will serve to show its general character among those 
converted to Christianity. It was composed by a 
graduate of the high school at Lahainaluna, while 
watching the corpse of the son of a missionary to 
whom he was much attached. The author was a 
young man of moderate abilities, who died himself 
shortly afterwards. I give it in the original, as a 
specimen of the Hawaiian language, and a literal 
translation into English. 



* In February, 1843, the comet which appeared so conspicuously 
to the inhabitants of the United States, shone in equal size and 
splendor in the Hawaiian heavens. Unlike the ignorant of our 
country, the Hawaiians regarded it, not as an object of fear, but po- 
etically called it the broad pennant of their beloved king, receding 
from the skies, and taking leave of their race. This was just after 
the seizure of the islands by Lord Paulet in behalf of Great Britain. 
One of the tars of the English frigate Carysfort, borrowing the idea, 
interpreted it to his ship-mates as the broad pennant of Captain 
Cook, displayed by him in honor of the English flag waving over 
the group, where he met his violent death. 



EXAMPLE OF MODERN POETRY. 75 



HE KANIKAU 

No ka make ana o Gerita, ka rnakahiapo a Dauta Iuda ma ; i make 
ma Honolulu Nov. 13, 1839. 

Na Hoohano i haku. 

Aloha wale ka pua nani, 
O ka Kauka kihapai, 
Ua haule ia, ua nalo no, 

ka pua i opuu mua a mohala maikai ai, 
A ikea kona nani, a ala no hoi, 

Aka, hiki mai ka la wela a mae, 

A haule no ua pua nani nei. 

Haohao ka mea kihapai i ka haule ana o kehahi pua, 

Imi ia aole loaa hou, ua nalo, 

Ua palaho, ua huipu me ka lepo. 

Auwe ! aloha ino no na laau ohiohi, 

1 kupu maikai ae a ua mae ka ! 

Kulou na pua a pau, me ka honi a ala no 

Ku lakou a puni me ka mihi nui, 

Auwe ! auwe ! kuu pua e, i haule iho nei ! 

Ninau ke konohiki i kona hakuaina, 
' Pehea la kou manao i keia puo no, 

Au i kanu ai ma ko'u kuauna ? ' 

Olelo mai ka haku, 
' Ua la we au i ke aka o kona nani a pau, 

A haule kona opuu a huipu me ka lepo.' 

Nani wale ka ulu ana o na laau, 

Aloha ino ka hoaaina, 

I ka una i ka imi me ka mihi nui no, 
' Auhea oe e Gerita i hele iho nei, 

Ahea oe, e hoi mai me ou hoahanau 1 

Hele hookahi oe ma ke ala mehameha, 

Hele malihini ma ke ala ikea ole ia. 

E Gerita, e Gerita, eia no makou a pau, 

Na pua helelei a haule aku no. 

Auhea oe, e hele oe i kamaaina aloha no makou nei a pau, 

E Gerita e Gerita e hele no oe ma ka makemake o kou 
Haku, 

Aole no e hiki ke hoole i kou manao. 

E hele oe, e hele oe a hele io no ma ke ala mehameha, 

A pii ma ke ala hulili o ko ke Akua aupuni, 

A komo i ka pa nani o Ierusalema, 

A komo i ka malu o ko ke Akua aupuni; 

E himeni ana oe me na anela maikai, 

He hana hoomaha ole kau hana malaila. 

E Gerita, e Gerita, 

Aloha ino makou i ka ike ole ia oe ; 

ka nalo ana no na, aole hoi hou mai.' 



76 EXAMPLE OF MODERN POETRY. 

[translation.! 

ELEGY 

On the death of Gerrit P. Judd, Jr., at Honolulu, November 13, 1839/ 

aged ten years, eight months, arid five days. 

By Hoohano, a Sandwich Islander. 

Farewell to the beautiful flower of the Doctor's garden ! 

It has fallen and vanished away ; 

The flower that budded first and blossomed fair, 

Whose splendor and fragrance were known; 

But the burning sun came, and it withered, 

And that beautiful flower has fallen. 

The occupant of the garden then wondered 

That a single flower was gone from his sight. 

He sought it, but found it not again, 

It was gone, it was decayed, 

It was mingled with the dust. 

Alas ! what a pity for the plants to be plucked ! 

They flourish well, but soon wither. 

All the flowers bowed their heads, smelling the fragrance; 

They stood around it in great sorrow. 

Alas ! alas ! 0, my flower that has fallen ! 

The chief tenant inquired of his Landlord: 
1 What thinkest thou concerning this flower, 

Which thou didst plant in my border'?' 

The Lord replied : ' I have taken away 

The image of all its glory ; 

Its bud has fallen, and is mingled with the dust.' 

How beautifully the plants flourish! 

Compassion for the tenant mourners, and searching with 
grief: 
' Whither, O Gerrit, hast thou gone ? 

When wilt thou return to thy birth-mates? 

Thou hast gone alone in the way that is lonely; 

Thou hast gone a stranger in an unknown path. 

O Gerrit, Gerrit! Behold, we all 

Are falling flowers, and soon to fall. 

Where art thou ? Go on, a kind pioneer for us all. 

O, Gerrit, Gerrit ! thou goest at the pleasure of thy Lord, 

And none can forbid thy design. 

Go thou ; travel on, till thou art wholly gone, 

Along the lonely pathway, 

And ascend the ladder of God, 

And go within the glorious walls of Jerusalem, 

And enter into the peace of God's kingdom. 

Thou art singing hymns with good angels, 

And endless employment is thy employment there. 

O, Gerrit, Gerrit! how deeply we mourn, 

Because we cannot now see thee ; 

Because thou hast gone from our sight, 

And will not return to us more.' 



SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE. 77 

Honolulu is quite a resort for Japanese, who have 
either been wrecked on the shores of Oahu, or picked 
up at sea by vessels of other nations, after having 
been for months exposed to the casualties of the 
ocean, in their imperfect and rude barks. The most 
interesting band of this nation, which misfortune 
thus brought to these shores, arrived at Lahaina, in 
the fall of 1839. They were brought by the whale- 
ship James Loper, Captain Cathcart. On the 6th of 
June of that year, when in north latitude, thirty de- 
grees, and east longitude, one hundred and seventy- 
four degrees, he fell in with the wreck of a junk. 
Seven individuals were still alive upon it, who, with 
all their movable property, were transferred to his 
ship. The junk was then set on fire. Four of their 
number were distributed among other ships, and all 
finally were landed at Oahu. With a benevolence 
which is characteristic of American whalers, their 
wants were all gratuitously supplied, and, at the ex- 
piration of four months, when they were put ashore, 
although they had a considerable amount of property 
with them, together with a quantity of gold and sil- 
ver, handsomely coined in the form of parallelo- 
grams, of various sizes and value, none was retained 
by way of compensation. 

Among the number saved was Hesherro, a man 
of fifty years of age, the owmer of the junk, and, in 
his own country, a person of wealth and conse- 
quence. He appeared to be well educated, and 
pious ; that is to say, devoted to the idolatry of his 
native land, being most punctual in his devotion to a 
little gilded idol, which, with a string of beads, was 
7^ 



78 SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE. 

enclosed in a wooden box. No consideration could 
induce him to part with it. When urged to do so, 
he would clasp his hands upon his breast, shake his 
head, and, in his imperfect English, imploringly ex- 
claim, ' By by, me die ! ' He had left five children to 
deplore his loss ; and his earnestness to be conveyed 
to his home was painfully intense. All desired to 
reach their native land; but his desire was especially 
strong. When any vessel anchored in the roads, he 
would come and bow down humbly before the mis- 
sionary, with whom the party was staying, and, point- 
ing to his children, exclaim, 'Kudomo!' (Japanese 
for children,) and express their number by holding 
up five fingers, while, with the other hand, he would 
point to his eye, and say, ' Me no see.' The elo- 
quence of his expression told of the deep parental 
affection, which burned within the old man. He 
was found dead, one morning, and buried at Hono- 
lulu. 

From the others, much information, in regard to 
their interesting country, was obtained. The name 
of their vessel was Clwajamur. They w T ere bound, 
from a town called Iko, to which they all belonged, 
to Jeddo, and had on board a cargo of rice, dried 
fish, and intoxicating spirits. A violent gale from 
the west overtaking them, drove them far to sea, and, 
finally, dismasting the vessel, left her, a mere wreck, 
to float about at the sport of the waves. Owing to 
a continuance of gales, although a jury-mast was 
rigged, they were unable to regain their own coast, 
and they continued to be driven farther to the east- 
ward. They were dismasted about the first of Jan- 



SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE. 79 

uary, 1839, and drifted about for five months, pre- 
viously to meeting with the James Loper. Latterly, 
their water failed, and six days passed wearily by, in 
watching the heavens for signs of rain. Their rice, 
also, was expended, and nothing edible remained, 
but the dried, salt fish. Their sufferings were in- 
tense. Silver coins were kept in their mouths, to 
cool their parched throats. Three of their number 
died. Of the remainder, none could stand, or 
scarcely crawl about the deck. At the end of the 
sixth day, some rain fell. The relief this afforded 
their miserable frames, none but those who have ex- 
perienced the agonies of thirst, can tell. They caught 
enough to supply them until they were taken from 
the wreck. 

Some effort was made to convert them to Chris- 
tianity ; but after any conversation upon the subject, 
they would usually conclude their argument by ob- 
serving : 4 The God of the Americans is good for 
Americans ; and our gods are good for us.' They 
had several books with them, which treated of their 
religious rites. Judging from the plates with which 
they were ornamented, a remnant of the ceremonies 
of the Romish church still exists among them. They 
acknowledged five principal gods, and a multitude 
of inferior ones. Izero, the clerk, and an intelligent 
man, remarked, that he had read, in the literature of 
his native land, ' that Christians are very bad men.' 
Indeed, his opinion of them seemed to be analogous 
to that of the poor aborigines of America, after mil- 
lions of their race had perished by the fire and sword 
of the militant missionaries of Spain. He was 



SO SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE. 

much astonished to learn that those who rescued him 
from the wreck, and had supported him ever since, 
called themselves Christians. ' It is impossible,' said 
he ; ' Christians no good ; these men, very, very 
good.' Of the attempts of the Jesuits to proselyte, 
in Japan, in former times, he was aware. His ac- 
count was, that a teacher of that faith, whom he 
called ' padere,' came to reside at Ktusin, Amasaka. 
He was at first poor, but finally, having made many 
converts, obtained great possessions. The Emperor, 
hearing of his success, became angered, and ordered 
every vestige of the religion to be destroyed. The 
people; were compelled to trample upon a certain 
sign they had, though he did not know its nature. 
The priests, however, encouraged the neophytes to 
retain it in their hearts. 

From him a tariff of the retail prices of the prin- 
cipal exports and imports of his provinces was ob- 
tained, which, after much trouble, was reduced to the 
American standard. It may prove of interest, par- 
ticularly to the mercantile community, when the 
prospects of trade with that quarter of the globe have 
become so greatly enlarged. Samples of their own 
manufactures, they had mostly with them. 

Cottons, blue, brown, striped, &c., 14 in. 

wide, by the piece of five fathoms, 

according to quality, from 16 cts. to 

56 cts. 
White Grass Cloth, same width and length, 

from 64 cts. to 80 cts. 
White Cotton, same width and length, 16 

to 48 cts. 



SHIPWRECKED JAPANESE. 81 

Silks, same width and length, 48 to 96 cts. 
Best, one yard wide, heavy silk, per 5 fath- 
oms, $4 80 

Figured Crape, 12 in. wide, 5 fathoms, . 80 

Dro, an article made of silk and linen, 5 

fathoms, . . . . 1 12 

do. 1 yard wide, ..... 1 76 

Velvet, silk, 14 in. wide, 5 fathoms, . . 1 28 
Calicoes, 5 fathoms, 48 to 64 cts. 
Raw silk, per 100 lbs., . . . . 64 00 
Foreign Broadcloth, imported from Chu- 

sin-Corea, fine, per fathom, . . 25 60 

Coarse do. 19 48 

Blankets, each, ..... 32 00 

The nation, according to his statement, is greatly 
addicted to intemperance ; business being done in 
the forenoon, and the remainder of the day spent in 
feasting and carousing. 

Their system of numerals is curious and interest- 
ing. The following article, upon this subject, was 
communicated to me, while editor of the Polynesian, 
by Dr. Baldwin, of Lahaina, and, though somewhat 
tedious to the general reader, as it has been suggested 
to me to be worthy of a more permanent record than 
the columns of a newspaper, I give it in connection 
with the account of these strangers. 

They were sent to Kamschatka, by a merchant of 
Honolulu, to the care of the Governor of that prov- 
ince, who kindly promised to forward them to their 
island homes. The Russians have, in several in- 
stances, endeavored to open an intercourse with 
Japan, by returning her subjects, who have been cast 



82 



SYSTEM OF NUMERALS. 



away ; but, hitherto, have been repulsed. These 
men felt confident of regaining their country in 
safety, notwithstanding the cruel laws of the empire ; 
and even made arrangement for covertly opening a 
trade, should any one be disposed to adventure a 
vessel into their waters. Their fate has not been 
ascertained. 



Lahaina, Sept. 23, 1840. 

Dear Sir, — It is now a long time since I promised to furnish 
you the Japanese numerals for the paper ; but an unusual variety 
of engagements of late have left me scarce a leisure hour, at any time, 
for such work. This is my apology for the delay. I will now, how- 
ever, endeavor to comply with your request; or, at least, to furnish 
you with such an abstract of these numerals, as will enable any 
one to form a very good idea of their system. To give you the 
whole, as I copied them from the lips of the Japanese, would fur- 
nish more matter than your paper would contain for several weeks. 

In expressing the Japanese names of their numerals in our own 
letters, I have given the vowels the sounds which they usually 
have in the European languages, inasmuch as these letters have no 
uniform sound in the English language. 

It will be seen, by the least inspection, that this system of nu- 
merals is as simple as it can possibly be made ; so simple and easy, 
indeed, that, at my first sitting with a native Japanese, while in- 
deed we knew only a few words of each other's language, it occu- 
pied me no more than rifteen minutes to learn to count a million. 
And this will not seem strange to one who sees, that, after using 
ten words to express the first ten cardinal numbers, only three ad- 
ditional new words are needed before we arrive at a million, and 
even to many millions. The first ten cardinal numbers, combined, 
express all the numbers up to one hundred, which is called hiakfu. 
This again, combined with the same ten carries us on to one thous- 
and (shen). Shen, combined with hiakfu and the first ten, reach 
again to ten thousand (mon). Mon, combined again with the same 
lower numbers, carries us up to ogf (100,000,000). Then Ko,Mureoko, 
Shoajoko, and Muiingku are words used to express higher and still 
higher combinations; making only eighteen words in all (including 
the first ten) to express a number so great, that it will hardly find 
a name in the English scholar's enumeration table. 

So far as I have observed, the combinations of these numerals are 
uniform, that is, are always formed in the same manner, till we 
arrive at millions, and even higher. In numbers which are much 
larger, there is some variety in the way of combining; the same 
number being expressed, at one time, by the combination of one set 
of numbers, at another, by a different set, which may easily be 
done; but always on precisely the same principle, which is, that 
the higher number is formed from the lower numbers, simply by 



SYSTEM OF NUMERALS. 83 



E lacing the lower in juxtaposition; just as the letters of an alge- 
raical expression are multiplied together. In this way. a Japanese 
scholar may be able always to comprehend the amount of the high- 
est number, by knowing the amount of each component part of 
which the number is formed. A great advantage in this system is, 
that the simple numbers are never changed in form, when they 
enter into higher combinations. 

The following abstract will give the leading numbers, and show 
the method of using the whole. 

Iche, 1 ; Ne, 2; San, 3 ; She, 4 ; Go, 5 ; Rogf, 6 : Shetz, 7 ; Hoch, 
8; Kfu, 9; Zu, 10; Zu iche, 11; that is, ten, one; Zu ne, 12; Zu 
san, 13; Zu she, 14; Zu go, 15; Zu rogf, 16; Zu Shetz, 17; Zu 
hoch, 18; Zu kfu, 19; Ne zu, 20; that is, two tens ; Nezu iche, 21 ; 
Nezu ne, 22; and so on to San zu, 30; or three tens; Sanzu iche, 
31 , &c. : Shezu, 40 ; or four tens ; Gozu, 50 ; Rogf zu, 60 ; Shetz zu, 
70; Hoch zu, SO ; Kfuzu, 90; Kfuzu kfu, 99; Hi a kfu, 100. Hiakfu 
iche, 101 ; Hiakfu ne, 102; Hiakfu san, 103 ; Hiakfu she, 104; Hiakfu 
go, 105; Hiakfu rogf, 106; Hiakfu shetz, 107; Hiakfu hoch, 108; 
Hiakfu kfu, 109; Hiakfu zu iche, 111 : Hiakfu nezu, 120 ; and so on, 
by the same process which is followed in counting one hundred, 
until we come to Ne hiakfu, 200; San hiakfu, 300 ; She hiakfu. 400 ; 
Go hiakfu, 500; Rogf hiakfu, 600; Shetz hiakfu, 700; Hoch hiakfu, 
800 ; Kfu hiakfu, 900 ; Kfu hiakfu kfuzu kfu, 999 ; Shen, 1000 ; Shen 
iche, 1001 ; Shen ne, 1002, Shen san, 1003 ; Shen zu, 1010 ; Shen nezu, 
1020; Shen sanzu, 1030; Shen hiakfu, 1100; Shen ne hiakfu, 1200; 
Shen san hiakfu, 1300 ; and so on up to Ne shen, 2000 ; Ne shen iche, 
2001. &c; San shen, 3000 ; She shen, 4000; Go shen, Rogf Shen, 
Shetz shen, Hoch shen, Kfu shen, 9000; Iche most, 10,000; Iche 
mon iche, 10,001, &c, always remembering, that a lesser number, 
placed after a greater, is so much added to the greater; and a lesser 
number placed before a greater, is a multiplier of a greater ; as Ne 
mon, 20,000 ; Ne mon iche, 20,001 ; Ne mon ne, 20,002 ; Ne mon 
san, 20,003, &c. ; San mon, 30,000; She mon, 40,000; Go mon, 50,- 
000, &c,; Zu mon, 100,000; Zu iche mon, 110,000; Nezu mon, 200,- 
000; Sanzu mon, 300.000; Shezu mon, 400,000; Kfuzu mon, 900,- 
000; Hiakfu mon, 1,000,000; Ne hiakfu mon, 2,000,000; San hiakfu 
mon, 3,000,000; Kfu hiakfu mon, 9,000,000; Shen mon', 10,000,000; 
Shen hiakfu mon, 11,000,000; Shen ne hiakfu mon, 12,000,000; 
Shen kfu hiakfu mon, 19,000,000; Nezu hiakfu mon, 20,000,000; 
(this last same as Ne shen mon, i. e. 20 X 100 X 10,000 = 2 X 1000- 
X 10,000; ) Sanzu hiakfu mon, 30,000,000; Kfuzu hiakfu mon, 90,- 
000,000; Iche ogf, 100,000,000. 

In continuing this series of numerals, it will be sufficient only to 
notice the principal numbers, as they rise one above another, by a 
ratio of ten, a hundred, or a thousand ; omitting the intermediate 
numbers, inasmuch as they are always formed with perfect regu- 
larity, the same as in counting from one upwards to an hundred, 
thousand, ten thousand, &c, e. g. Ne ogf, 200,000,000; San ogf, 
300,000,000; She ogf, Go ogf, Rogf ogf, &c, &c, &c. 

Zu ogf, 1,000,000,000; Hiakfu ogf, 10,000,000,000; Shen ogf, 100,- 
000,000,000; Zu shen ogf, 100,000,000,000,000; Iche mon ogf, 10,- 
000,000,000.000; Hiakfifmon ogf, 1,000,000,000,000,000 ; Kfu hiakfu 
mon ogf, 9.000.000,000.000,000. 



84 SYSTEM OF NUMERALS. 



Icho or Iche ko, 10,000,000,000,000,000. 

Hiakfu ko, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Iche shen ko, 10,000.000,000,000,000,000. 

Iche mon ko, 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Iche ogf ko, 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Hiakfu ogf ko, 1,000,000,000,000,000.000,000,000,000. 

Shen ogf ko, 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Hiakfu shen ogf ko, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Iche mureoko, 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Zu mureoko, ~) 

Hiakfu mureoko, > Any one can fill out these numbers for himself. 

Shen mureoko, ) 

Mon mureoko, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Zu mon mureoko, 

Hiakfu mon moreoko, 

Iche ogf mureoko, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 

Zu ogf mureoko, 

Hiakfu ogf mureoko, 

Shen ogf mureoko, 

Zu shen ogf (or mon ogf) mureoko. 

Kfu hiakfu shen ogf mureoko, 90,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Iche shoajoko, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000. 
Zu Shoajoko, 
Hiakfu Shoajoko, 
Shen shoajoko, 
Zu shen shoajoko, 
Hiakfu shen shoajoko, 
Iche mon shoajoko, 
Zu mon shoajoko, 
Hiakfu mon shoajoko, 
Shen mon shoajoko, 
Kfu shen mon shoajoko, 900,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000.000,000,000,000,000. 
Iche ogf shoajoko, 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Zu ogf shoajoko, 
Hiakfu ogf shoajoko, 
Kfu hiakfu ogf shoajoko, 
Iche muiimgku, 1 .000,000,000,000,000,000,000 000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Zu muiingku, 
Hiakfu muiingku, 
Shen muiingku, 
Iche mon muiingku, 10,000.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Zu mon muiingku, 
Hiakfu mon muiingku, 
Shen mon muiingku, 
Tsezu shen mon muiingku, 
Hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 
Ne hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 



SYSTEM OF NUMERALS. 65 



San hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

She hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Go hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Rogf hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Shetz hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Hoch hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Kfu hiakfu shen mon muiingku, 

Iche ogf muiingku (same as Iche mon shen mon muiingku), 100,- 

000,000,000,000,000.000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000. 
Zu ogf muiingku, 
Sanzu ogf muiingku, 
Shezu ogf muiingku, 
Gozu ogf muiingku, 
Rogfzu ogf muiingku, 
Shetzzu ogf muiingku, 
Hochzu ogf muiingku, 
Kfuzu ogf muiingku, 
Hiakfu ogf muiingku, 
Ne hiakfu ogf muiingku, 
San hiakfu ogf muiingku, 
She hiakfu ogf muiingku, 
Go hiakfu ogf muiingku, 
Shen ogf muiingku, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Ne shen ogf muiingku. 
San shen ogf muiingku, 
She shen ogf muiingku, 
Go shen ogf muiingku, 
Rogf shen ogf muiingku, 
Shetz shen ogf muiingku, 
Hoch shen ogf muiingku, 
Kfu shen ogf muiingku, 
Iche ogf ogf muiingku (same as Hiakfu shen ogf muiingku), 10 - 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000^- 
000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 
Zu ogf ogf muiingku, 
Hiakfu ogf ogf muiingku, 
Shen ogf ogf muiingku, 
Iche mon ogf ogf muiingku, 
Zu mon ogf ogf muiingku, 
Hiakfu mon ogf ogf muiingku, 
Shen mon ogf ogf muiingku, 
Zu shen mon ogf ogf muiingku, 
Kiakfu shen mon ogf ogf muiingku, 

Shen shen mon ogf ogf muiingku, 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,- 

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 000- 

000,000,000,000,000. 

This number is as high as Izero, the Japanese of whom these 

numerals were obtained, was able to reckon. He says, however 

that this is far from being the end of their enumeration-table, and 

mentions a number he has often heard from the priests when har- 

ranguing the people, viz: Zu mon ogf bouts — bouts being a num- 

8 



86 SYSTEM OF NUMERALS. 



ber immensely larger than muiingku; but he does not know how 
large a number bouts signifies, nor does he know how many num- 
bers intervene between that and muiingku, nor what are the names 
of those numbers. They are all, however, familiar to the learned 
of Nipon. 

One would suppose, that their concerns would not require any 
higher numbers than those above given, for, besides having such a 
vast number as muiingku alone, there seems to be, according to 
their system, full liberty to combine with that, all the numbers that 
are lower; and Hiakfu shan mon ogf ko mureoko shoajoko muiing- 
ku, would, by their rules, be such a number as we should express, 
in our figures, by a 1 followed by 1C5 cyphers. If this would not 
be large enough, the rules of combination equally allow us to say, 
Hiakfu hiakfu shen shen mon mon ogf ogf ko ko, &c, &c, a num- 
ber expressed by us by a 1 followed by 330 cyphers, a number large 
enough, perhaps, to express the distance to some of the fixed stars, 
in inches. 

It ought, perhaps, to be observed here, that, while the above 
sketch of Japanese numerals will show their system, yet, probably, 
the higher numbers are not given accurately, according to that sys- 
tem. They were all obtained from the mouth of Izero, by com- 
mencing with the lowest, and proceeding, by small gradations, to 
the highest number. Before we had finished the series, it was per- 
ceived, that, what seemed in one part to be established rules for 
combining lesser numbers to make greater, were violated in another 
part; for instance, mon, in one combination, avails 1000; in an- 
other 100,000; and in a third, 1,000,000; while it would seem that 
it ought to avail just 10,000 in all places. Wherever this deviation 
was perceived, Izero was questioned thoroughly, to ascertain how 
many of each lower number made one of the next higher. But he 
would not allow, that in any of these cases, there was any error. 
Probably, however, more learned Japanese would perceive the 
errors. I think 1 have, in the list I copied, data enough to correct 
the numbers which are wrong. Perhaps it might be done by the 
abstract here given. But as Izero would not allow that there was 
any mistake, I have preferred to set all down here according to his 
diction, leaving to every one, who may please, to correct for him- 
self. 

I would only add, in conclusion, that if any one has curiosity 
enough to look over these numerals, he should, by no means, begin 
in the middle, but let him learn thoroughly the first ten cardinal 
numbers, and he will then find he has the key to unlock the mys- 
tery of the whole. Yours truly, 

D. Baldwin, 



CHAPTER III. 

Koloa Packet. — Voyage. — Companions. — Devotions of Hawaiian 
Crew. — Appearance of Kauai. — Its Situation. — Harbors. — * 
Koloa Scenery. — Sugar Plantations. — History of. -*- Paper Mon- 
ey. — Counterfeit do. — Sugar-cane. — Quality of Soil. — Profits 
of Sugar. — Probable Success in its Culture. — Effect of Foreign 
Capital and Enterprise upon Natives. — Old System of Labor. 

— Present. — A Novel Race. — Market Day. — Trading. — Cul- 
tureof Silk. — Rapidity of Growth of the Mulberry. — Different 
Species of Silk-worms.- — Cross-breeds. — Loss of Capital invested 
in Silk-business at Koloa. — Fatality of the Trees and Worms, 

— Causes. — A Beautiful, but Secluded Spot. — News from 
'Home.' — A Covetous Governess. — A Singular Excursion. — 
Mouna Kahili. — A Legend. — A Predatory Chieftain.-— Reflec- 
tions upon his Fate. — Valley of Hanapepe. — Surf-swimming. — 
Remarkable Freaks of Nature. — A Cataract. — Great Mortality 
at Hanapepe. — A Necessary though Sudden Marriage. — Good 
Condition-of Roads. — "Who keeps them so. — Town of Waimea. 
Capital of the Island. — Amelia, the Governess. — Mission Houses. 

— Residences of the Rulers. — A Straw Palace. — A Fine Ca- 
noe. — Fort. — Niihau. — First Introduction of Fleas. — Soil of 
Kauai. — Geological Features. — Mountains. ■ — Uplands and 
Lowlands. — Pali. — Remarkable Caves. — Spouting Horn. — 
Rivers. — Great Body of Arable Land. — Trades. — Climate. — 
Storms. — Minerals, &c. 

Honolulu is a pleasant place, but it is not the only- 
spot worth visiting. During the summer months, 
when the weather becomes a few degrees warmer, 
and clouds of dust and strong winds, sweeping and 
careering over the town, create a desire for a change 
to the luxuriant fields and cooler breezes of Kauai, 
which lies somewhat nearer a colder clime, numbers 



KOLOA PACKET. 



leave the dusty seaport for that island. Oahu has 
hitherto borne the character of being the garden of 
the group, but let the reader follow me in my wan- 
derings over Kauai, and I think that he will agree with 
me in asserting that to that island more properly 
belongs the distinction. In voyaging from island to 
island, there is but little choice in the means of con- 
veyance ; a canoe, or a miniature vessel of a few 
tons burden, and but little better, being the common 
resort, unless, luckily, a stray whaler in passing 
should give the happy vagrant a 'lift/ Necessity, 
or the strongest curiosity alone, tempts any one to trust 
himself to the craft, which usually does the honors 
of that passage. She is a frail thing, yclept the 
Pilot, manufactured in the forests of Tahiti, and one 
day, after buffeting the tropical waves for two months, 
found herself in the harbor of Honolulu. In any 
other port, she would have astonished the inhabi- 
tants almost as much as the barks of Columbus did 
the simple natives of Guanahini. But Honoluluians 
are accustomed to Sinbad feats of saiiorship. The 
virtues of the Pilot being so well tested, she was for- 
mally installed as a regular ' liner,' under the com- 
mand of the experienced Captain Spunyarn. As 
no opposition existed, a most exorbitant price was 
charged for the satisfaction of making a fellow-being 
as completely miserable for a day or week as might 
be, as foul air, vermin, and sea-sickness could render 
him. No discredit to the worthy captain, however, 
for he was a clever fellow, having under his orders a 
mate and cook. For several years had he com- 
manded this stout schooner, and he knew every 



VOYAGE. 89 

wave by sight, and every change of wind and varia- 
tion of current by instinct. If any one doubts his 
seamanship, let him go no farther ; as for his face, it 
was the very picture of inward satisfaction. He 
could not have been happier or prouder had he 
commanded a dashing frigate. To be sure, he had 
capsized her once in a squall, but being near land 
she was towed ashore and righted. And as for 
drowning a Polynesian, you might as well try to 
drown a flying-fish. On another occasion, a whale 
rising alongside created a surge that well-nigh en- 
gulfed her ; but still she survived, and still continued 
to sail crowded with passengers, each one on leaving 
her most devoutly praying, that that might be the last 
time their feet should cross her gangway. Visions 
of stately ships, swift steam-boats, and every other 
variety of decent conveyance flitted through my 
mind, as, after having screwed up my courage to the 
embarking point, (although the while I felt it an un- 
dertaking to be compared to nothing but crossing 
the bridge of a single hair which leads to the Mus- 
sulman's paradise.) I wended my way towards the 
wharf where the Pilot was tied up. Her sails were 
hoisted ; without further ado, I jumped aboard, and 
bidding a reluctant farewell to Honolulu, soon found 
myself out of the harbor, and running before a brisk 
trade along the leeward side of Oahu. Now, as no 
traveller visits Hawaii nei, without encountering sor- 
rows like mine, I shall give the reader, who may 
have designed a similar excursion, a glance at what 
he will have to encounter, by way of encourage- 
ment. Let him not imagine because he has crossed 
8* 



90 COMPANIONS. 

the Atlantic, or doubled Cape Horn, and cheated old 
father Nepturte of his tribute, that he will defraud 
him now. O, no ! Down upon your back upon the 
deck, as straight as four feet by one will allow, with 
the privilege of shifting your quarters every few 
hours to go about. Hapless victim, the penalty is 
upon you. 

Talk about the horrors of the ' mid passage.' 
No slave, pent in his vile hole, ever settled more 
unwilling account with his brineship than I did 
in the 'mid channel.' Just picture the comfort 
to be enjoyed in a little-decked vessel, a sort of am- 
phibious craft, not so large as a frigate's launch, 
whirled and tossed in the froth of the ocean like a 
mere feather, now under water, now out again, shak- 
ing the spray from itself, much like an old water-dog. 
The few feet of deck is shared with some dozens of 
natives, the near contact of whom allows you only 
room to curl up as square as possible in. No aboli- 
tionist can have less antipathy to the various colored 
cuticles that cover our race, than I have, but when 
my next neighbor's shins are in close contact 
with my cranium, and that neighbor is a swarthy, 
naked Hawaiian, with a skin well furrowed with 
a disease, a remedy for which quacks have been 
exerting their advertising powers ever since the 
days of Noe, I confess some little sensitiveness. 
But in the effort to avoid Scylla I fell upon Charyb- 
dis, in the shape of one of the fairer sex, whose attire 
is just sufficient to convince even the most sea-sick, 
that woman unadorned is not always adorned the 
most. Her hair, ah ! that 's just the thing I am en- 



VOYAGE. 91 

deavoring to avoid, for living reasons which none 
can gainsay — so not another word on this topic. A 
few stout hogs, the pot companions of their masters, 
completed our mess. Let no one turn up his nose 
at even a swinish fellow voyager. A friend of mine 
and his family had the misfortune to be out ten days 
in the least of all these cockle boats, in making the 
passage from one island to another. Towards the 
last of the time it began to be a serious affair, and 
hunger stared them in the face. To such an extrem- 
ity were they driven, that they held a consultation as 
to what they should have to eat. The result was, 
that one of their number, in order to save the lives 

of the remainder, was doomed to cut the throat 

of a porker, whose layers of fat, the result of many 
years high feeding, supplied them with fuel to cook 
the lean withal — a Jack Sprat process which would 
have shocked Epicurus, if he had not been as hun- 
gry as my worthy friend. 

The wind not proving fair, our voyage was pro- 
longed, with all the usual disagreeableness incidental 
to such trips. At times the breeze would die away 
entirely, and leave the vessel pitching, and rocking, 
and twisting about in the vexed waves, much like a 
spoiled child who attempts to show his sense of in- 
jured dignity, by throwing his puny form upon the 
floor, and sprawls legs and arms into the air, while 
he distorts his body into a thousand inexpressible 
shapes, extremely consoling to himself, but not par- 
ticularly edifying to any one else. Equally vain 
would it be to make such an urchin stand without 
his will, as it was for us to stand with the best of 



92 VOYAGE. 

wills. The frequent and rising sensations in the 
epigastric region seem to have some sympathetic 
connection with Hogarth's line of beauty ; for all my 
motions, at least, were in a curvilinear direction, until 
having enlightened the scaly dwellers of the deep to 
the utmost of my abilities, as to the nature of my 
diet for the previous week, I curled myself up into 
the smallest compass possible ; and, under the protec- 
tion of a mat, bid defiance to the scorching sun, and 
the rain-squalls that occasionally discharged their 
humid contents upon us. Reader, were you ever in 
such a situation — did your nose ever acquire an 
extra ' turn up ' as the reeking odors of poi in all its 
sweet savor struck upon your nostrils ? Have you 
never envied the graceful nonchalance with which a 
grinning Hawaiian slips the sticky food down his 
throat, smacking his lips in the extent of his satisfac- 
tion, and with a benevolent smile, offering to share 
his mess with your forlorn self? Did not the poi 
smell particularly sour just then, and did you not 
imagine that the calabash contained more than its 
usual quantum of dirt, even to make it agreeable to 
an Hawaiian stomach ; and then has not the manner 
with which a young porker, or snub-nosed little pup- 
py intruded its snout into the owner's face, with a 
glance so particularly expressive of l give me some,' 
struck you as singularly pastoral and affectionate? 
When you have awaked from your sea-sick trance, 
with a keen sense of a vacuity not far from the 
region of the internal man, vulgarly yclept the stom- 
ach, and looked with greedy eyes into your basket, 
which, when vou came aboard had been well stored 



DEVOTIONS OF HAWAIIAN CREW. 93 

with luxuries, which now you could weep even to 
think over, and found — 'nothing, have you not been 
satisfied that kanakas are fond of something else 
besides ' poi ? ' Have not your ears dwelt in listen- 
ing wonder upon the mystic sounds of * bumegai,' 
as they are shouted ever and anon by the skipper, 
and echoed from stem to stern. If you have never 
experienced all this, why you can, any day, by pay- 
ing five dollars for the privilege of the softest plank 
you can select upon the deck of the good packet 
Pilot, Spunyarn master. 

But, seriously, I know of few situations where a 
man feels more dependent upon the care of Him, 
who ruleth the storm, and can bid the wrathful waves 
— 'peace, be still,' than in one of the small and ill 
provided craft that ply about these islands, with ig- 
norant, careless crews, dozing over their pipes, and, 
as is frequently the case, with no land in sight, and 
nothing but the stars, or an imperfect compass, to 
guide them. Blow as it may, their puny vessels are 
ever to be found buffeting the waves ; their crews, 
regardless of time spent, and the Captain careful only 
for his expected gains, pushing boldly out to sea, and 
trusting, one would think, in Turkish fatality, rather 
than in skill or weather. Yet they generally arrive 
in safety at their destined ports. Like the Osmanlis, 
the Captains are regular and consistent in their devo- 
tions, and whatever may be the condition of the 
vessel, at sunrise or sunset the crew are assembled 
aft, Avhile he lifts his voice in thanksgiving for mer- 
cies past, and prays for protection to come. On 
such occasions, in tones of humility and sincerity, 



94 APPEARANCE OF KAUAI. 

while all around were awed into silence, here I heard 
the throne of heaven addressed by a simple, untu- 
tored islander. Not only were guidance and protec- 
tion implored for themselves and their king, but Eng- 
land, France, the United States, and not to omit even 
those nations of whom they knew not, ' all the world ' 
were remembered in these orisons. Callous must be 
the heart that can witness these half-converted heath- 
en, thus addressing the one true Jehovah, and not 
feel the spirit of prayer warm within him. From 
whatever motive it may arise, it is at once a grateful 
and impressive custom. 

After setting foot again upon terra firma, one feels 
much as if he stood as good a chance of living out 
his days, as other men, provided he tempt not Provi- 
dence again by a similar venture, and shakes himself 
well to discover whether he takes ashore all the limbs 
he earned aboard. A day or two suffices for them 
to recover their vertical position, and it is their own- 
er's fault, if the cool breezes and verdant landscapes 
of Kauai do not make the voyager in a short time 
forget all his past troubles, and enter upon all the new 
scenes with a freshness of spirit and keenness of 
relish, enhanced by the difficulties experienced in 
reaching them. 

Both Oahu and Kauai present rather a dun ap- 
pearance, as they are approached from the sea; but, 
on nearer inspection, the loftier peaks, broader plains, 
and more picturesque valleys, of Kauai, assume a 
more verdant aspect. Kauai, having been far less 
visited by travellers than the other islands of the 
group, is the least known ; yet, in charming variety 



ITS SITUATION. HARBORS. 95 

of scenery, and general goodness of soil, it stands 
unrivalled. Its northernmost point lies in twenty- 
two degrees, seventeen minutes, north latitude; its 
southern, in twenty-one degrees, fifty-six minutes. 
It lies between one hundred and fifty-nine degrees, 
forty-one minutes, and one hundred and sixty de- 
grees, eight minutes, west longitude, and embraces 
an area of about five hundred square miles, and is 
seventy-five miles distant from Oahu. It is nearly 
circular in shape, affording no good harbors, though 
there are a few spots, inside of the reefs which line 
the eastern shore, where the smallest class of vessels 
can anchor in safety, but find it very difficult to get 
out, should the trade-winds blow freshly. The prin- 
cipal roadsteads are at Waimea, and Koloa on the 
south side, and Hanalei on the north. Waimea has 
always been the principal resort for vessels, since the 
discovery of the island ; and it was here, that all the 
early navigators anchored, it being then, as now, the 
capital of the island. But more of this place, anon. 
The direct communication between Oahu and Kauai 
is kept up, from Koloa, on the southeastern point, by 
means of small vessels, that ply to and fro, making 
the passage down in from one to two days, and the 
trip back, being against the trades, in from four to 
seven days. It is an open roadstead ; but ships can 
lie in safety, through most of the year, and take in 
cargoes. The landing is at a rough stone pier, built 
at the mouth of a small stream, and just inside of a 
projecting point of reef. 

Koloa rises gradually from the sea, until it attains 
a height of a few hundred feet, when it meets with 



96 KOLOA SCENERY. SUGAR PLANTATIONS. 

a range of high hills, which separate it from an ex- 
tensive plain on the north. These hills have a grad- 
ual rise, on the south side ; but, on the opposite side, 
they sweep up from the plain, in a precipitous curve, 
steep and cragged, presenting, at their summits, the 
appearance of a huge wave, suddenly consolidated, 
just as it was about to topple over, and break upon 
the shore. Koloa presents a variety of landscape, 
that is seldom to be met with. Mountains and hills, 
plains and valleys, cottage and hamlet, are sprinkled 
in careless order ; yet, from whatever point they are 
viewed, they present a charming coup d'ceil. Here 
are to be seen the chief agricultural enterprises of the 
islands ; and at no other point are the good effects of 
foreign capital, united with native industry, more per- 
ceptible than this. A few years since, Koloa was a 
mere hamlet, seldom visited by even a missionary. 
After it became a mission station, its fertility, and the 
great size which sugar-cane attains, from which it 
derives its name, (ko, cane — loa, great,) attracted the 
attention of some capitalists from Oahu, who, hav- 
ing obtained a grant of land from government, de- 
termined to make the experiment of raising sugar. 
In 1836, for three hundred dollars per annum, they 
secured, for fifty years, an extensive tract of the best 
portion of Koloa. The jealousy of the petty chiefs, 
in seeing their lands thus alienated, proved, for some- 
time, a great obstacle to their success. They carried 
their opposition so far, as to forbid all sale of pro- 
visions, from their people to the agent, who repaired 
here to commence operations ; and he was wellnigh 
starved into a retreat. This surmounted, a greater 



PAPER MONEY. — COUNTERFEITED. 97 

obstacle lay in overcoming the repugnance of the na- 
tives to regular and protracted labor, and their utter 
ignorance of tools. At one time, in lieu of cattle, he 
was obliged to employ forty natives, to drag a plough. 
Gradually, by a lavish expenditure of capital, all 
difficulties were overcome, and the lands made to 
yield good crops of sugar-cane. 

From the want of a sufficient quantity of small 
change, to keep a large number of laborers em- 
ployed, a card currency was introduced, which 
formed the first issue of paper money in Polynesia. 
It was redeemable, in goods, at the stores only of the 
proprietors of the plantations. If any one doubts 
the capacity of the victims of this paper currency, 
for the most extended civilization, the following fact 
is quite sufficient to remove it. It had not long been 
in circulation, before some sharp-witted fellows 
among them made a counterfeit, so strikingly like 
the original, imitating the signatures with scrupulous 
exactness, that it was some time before the fraud was 
detected. But, savage-like, they seemed to take 
more pleasure in the deception, than in any gain ac- 
cruing from it ; for, to make a hapawalu, (twelve and 
a half cents,) it would take them much longer, than 
to have earned it by labor in the fields. The several 
pieces varied, in value, from a hapaumi, six and a 
quarter cents, to one dollar. One real (twelve and a 
half cents) per day, is the nominal price of labor, in 
the agricultural districts ; but, at that price, it has 
been found impossible to compete with the cheaper 
labor of the East Indies, and the Philippine Islands. 
As is common in all experiments, much money has 
9 



98 SUGAR-CANE. — 'QUALITY OF SOIL. 

been fruitlessly expended, at Koloa. The price of 
sugar, on the plantations, has fallen, from five to two 
cents per pound ; a rate, which can afford no profit 
to foreigners, who engage in it, but one which pays 
the Hawaiian agriculturalist, on his petty farm, a bet- 
ter price than some other articles. The buildings, 
erected at Koloa, for boiling houses, &c, are good ; 
but, for other purposes, they are mostly of thatch, and 
will last but a few years. The water-power is am- 
ple, and turns a powerful iron-mill, erected two years 
ago, at an expense of ten thousand dollars. It serves 
to grind all the cane raised in the district. From 
four to six hundred acres are under cultivation, a 
large proportion of which is planted by the natives. 
The sugar manufactured is inferior only to the better 
samples of the Havana and Louisiana. The clayed 
sugars, of which but little has been made, are poor ; 
but the quality has been annually improving. No 
better molasses is produced anywhere. It is worth 
twelve and a half cents per gallon, at the mill. 

The cane, to be in perfection, should be so planted, 
that it will remain from twelve to sixteen months 
upon the ground. In autumn, when it is all in blos- 
som, the fields present a most beautiful appearance; 
the long, golden-colored stalks, lifting up their heads 
far above the regularly-planted rows, their silvery 
tassels, floating gayly in the wind, or drooping grace- 
fully from their half-burst sheaths, seem like a bril- 
liant array of soldiery, with their lances glistening in 
the bright sunlight, and pennons spread to the breeze. 

The virgin soil commonly produces fifteen hun- 
dred pounds to the acre, being fifty per cent, more 



PROBABLE SUCCESS IN SUGAR CULTURE. 99 

than the average in Louisiana. In one instance, five 
thousand pounds were taken from one acre, which 
had been previously cultivated, and the land mellow 
and rich ; two thousand pounds per acre have been 
frequently taken off; but it is supposed, that the soil, 
when properly taken care of, will settle down to the 
first-mentioned amount. The varieties of the cane 
are, the red, white, and striped, of which the last is 
considered the best, as it does not lose much juice in 
remaining on the ground after it is ripe. 

By many, it is doubted, whether the production of 
sugar can be made a profitable business, at this 
group. Unless labor becomes cheaper, and laborers 
more abundant, it will not greatly increase. The 
Hawaiians are annually finding more lucrative and 
agreeable sources of support, than the severe labor 
of hoeing and planting cane. Markets, also, are dis- 
tant and uncertain; the nearest being New Holland 
and Chili, both of which countries can be better sup- 
plied from Manila and Peru. The Oregon Terri- 
tory, when it becomes settled, will prove the best; 
and the 'shipping, particularly the whalers, take off a 
large amount for stores. 

But these islands possess some advantages over 
other countries, where it is an important staple. The 
soil is peculiarly adapted for its growth. In the East 
Indies labor is cheaper ; but in the West Indies and 
Louisiana it is much higher, as can readily be shown 
by comparing the expenditures of two plantations. 
Slave labor is very much dearer than free labor ; the 
interest of the money alone, which a slave costs, 
being sufficient to hire a workman here, without the 



100 FOREIGN CAPITAL AND ENTERPRISE. 

additional expense of family, risk of death, etc. In 
addition to this, is an expensive steam-engine, with 
a salaried engineer, attorney, and physician, which 
are all necessary on an extensive slave plantation, 
but not required for one conducted in the usual 
manner at these islands. Freedom from taxation is 
also an important item. The soil has, heretofore, 
yielded as well as that of other countries ; in many 
instances, better. In no part of the world, can work- 
men be fed and housed, cheaper than here ; a 
thatched dwelling, sufficient for a family, costing 
only five dollars. The expense of ploughing and 
planting the cane, per acre, is, as I was informed, by 
one who has had much experience in this matter, not 
over five dollars. But the business has not, as yet, 
been prosecuted to an extent sufficient to warrant 
any extensive comparison; but, so far as a judg- 
ment can be formed, the chances of its ultimate suc- 
cess are as great, here, as in most other sugar coun- 
tries. 

Koloa is now a flourishing village. A number of 
neat cottages, prettily situated amid shrubbery, have 
sprung up, within two years past. The population 
of the place, also, has been constantly increasing, by 
emigration from other parts of the island. It num- 
bers, now, about two thousand people, including 
many foreigners, among whom are stationed a mis- 
sionary preacher, and physician, with their families. 

The good effects, resulting from the agricultural 
enterprises, are not confined exclusively to mere pe- 
cuniary returns. They have had a high and noble 
influence upon the natives ; one that has operated, to 



OLD AND PRESENT SYSTEMS OF LABOR. 101 

a great extent, in bringing about the present favora- 
ble change in behalf of the people. They have 
proved a death-blow to that species of domestic 
slavery, which has so long been preying upon their 
best energies and interests. The Kauaiians were, of 
all others, the most oppressed by their chiefs, being 
despised and contemned, as a conquered race. Their 
degradation was beyond account; and when the 
plantations were first established among them, their 
stupidity and vicious habits threatened to prove in- 
superable obstacles to their success. The spirit of 
commerce, once awakened, produced most favorable 
changes in their character; and when they found 
that their time and labor was worth something more 
to them than hard words and little food, they were 
not slow in letting their rulers know it. The result 
has been, that they have, ever since, enjoyed more 
personal freedom, and their condition has been grad- 
ually improving. Even the King, who cultivates 
the soil largely here, satisfied that free labor is the 
most profitable, has, of late, abolished the working 
days, and pays his workmen, who labor under the 
superintendence of a white man, regular wages. 

Under the old syste,m, the natives were called out 
early in the morning, and kept at work until three 
o'clock, P. M., when they were dismissed. The 
amount of work, which several hundred men would 
perform, driven like cattle to the field, with but a 
few to overlook them, can easily be imagined. To 
them it was generally a day of noise and fun ; the 
one who could shirk the most was the best fellow ; 
and the hearty peals of laughter, which would fol- 
9* 



102 WORKMEN. 

low the effusion of some wag of the company, would 
delay the work, far more than all the blows or threats 
of the overseers could speed it. After a year's trial, 
the superintendent finding, that, if he were obliged 
to depend upon the system of compulsory labor for 
the cultivation of the sugar-cane, it would soon run 
out, His Majesty authorized a change; and his lands 
are now cultivated in the same manner as those of 
the whites. 

It has been the custom of the proprietors of the 
plantations here, to bargain with the government for 
the services of a certain number of families, for 
whom they pay all taxes, and who, in return, are 
called upon for no other work than what is essential 
to their business as day-laborers. It is altogether 
voluntary on the part of the families whether they 
will go or not, but the inducement of regular wages, 
good houses, and plenty of food, when compared 
with their usual mode of living, is one that few 
resist. 

The surveillance of a gang of these workmen is, 
however, no sinecure. Some are honest fellows, 
and work with a will, but with many the object is 
to work as little, and play as much, as they can. It 
is really' amusing to a disinterested individual, to 
watch the shifts that they will make to deceive their 
employers ; and, as to cornering them in a story, it is 
impossible. You may chase them from one lie to 
another, but you cannot catch them. If the over- 
seer leave for a moment, down they squat, out come 
the pipes, and the longest-winded fellow commences 
upon a yarn, a sort of improvisation, that keeps the 



A NOVEL RACE. 103 

others upon the broad grin. Their humor is inde- 
scribable, and, to ears polite, rather vulgar. Nothing 
escapes their attention ; they will mimic the haole, 
(foreigner,) and then as soon as he comes in sight, 
seize their spades, and commence laboring with an 
assiduity that baffles description, and perhaps all 
the while not strain a muscle. With them a joke 
is a joke ; they love it as well at their own expense, 
as at another's ; but let him look out who gets the 
whole laugh turned upon himself. They are per- 
fect adepts in blackguardism, and would stand pro- 
fessors to the denizens of St. Giles's themselves. In 
many points they are like the genuine man-of-war's 
men — they laugh and sing while they have enough 
to eat, careless of the morrow; spending all they 
raise upon their friends. Thus, many a fellow 
earns from forty to fifty dollars per annum, and yet 
cannot boast a shirt to his back; his friends and 
relatives having cozened all his wages from him. 
When the plantations were first started, an attempt 
was made to keep the workmen clothed, but it 
proved futile. A Hawaiian will work in the 
suit that nature gave him, which being of dirt color, 
is, perhaps, after all, the best adapted for that pur- 
pose, and does not wear out in washing. As to 
clothes, they are only for special occasions, kept for 
Sundays, or to lend. I have known a cast-off pair 
of pants serve the turn of half a dozen families. 
Some years since, when calico was a more valuable 
article than at present, I saw two young damsels 
who had become the fortunate possessors of a frock 
each, and were displaying their rare acquirements with 



104 MARKET DAY. TRADING. 

much self-complacency to their envious and less 
fortunate sisters, when a shower came up. Off 
went the garments, which were rolled up and put 
under the arms, and off started the fair ones in all 
their pristine beauty, on a race for shelter. 

Saturday is the general market and shopping day, 
and the time allotted by the chiefs, to the natives, to 
prepare their food for the ensuing week. At sunrise 
the little shops on the plantations are opened, to 
redeem the paper money, and purchase such articles 
as the natives bring for sale. Crowds of them in 
the rudest attire, or in no attire at all, early throng 
the house. One brings vegetables, another fish, fine 
tapas, mals, curiosities, in short, any thing and every 
thing which they suppose the haole, (foreigner,) to 
want. Women leading fat pigs, which ever and 
anon they take in their arms, and press to their 
bosoms, to still their deafening and prolonged 
lamentations, or to give the last fond embrace, join 
the throng ; while dog and fowl add their voices to 
the dulcet strain. Then commences the barter: — 
knives, needles, flints, calicoes, and all the numerous 
etcetera of a trading establishment are spread in 
tempting array before their wistful eyes, and a scene 
of cheapening, undervaluing, and petty deception 
ensues, which would do credit to a Seminarian belle, 
or require the pencil of a Cruikshank to depict. 

The rigidity of the facial muscle, which so pecu- 
liarly characterizes an American trader, rendering 
the features stiff and uninviting, forcibly contrasts 
with the varied expression, the shrug of the shoulder, 
and gesture of the limb, which so strongly imply 



CULTURE OF SILK. 105 

what words are weak in conveying, and which no 
Hawaiian fails to use in the greatest profusion, 
accompanied with certain suspicious grunts, (which 
I strongly suspect are imitated from their favorite 
pets and mess companions,) in conversing upon any 
subject in the least exciting. In fact, more meaning 
is conveyed in a look, wink of the eye, or twitch of 
a muscle, as their manner of. trading bears ample 
testimony, than volumes of the king's English can 
express. Of all the arts of civilized life, that of 
close trading is the first acquired by savages, because 
it is the first taught. 

Considerable interest has been felt among those 
who are interested in the prosperity of these islands, 
in the experiment which was made at Koloa, on an 
extensive scale, in the raising of raw silk, as one, 
which, if successful, would not only afford a valu- 
able export, but prove an important branch of 
domestic industry, giving suitable and profitable 
employment to women and children. Some years 
since, several gentlemen, attracted by the even tem- 
perature of the climate, and the rapidity and vigor 
with which the mulberry plants grew, conceived the 
idea of establishing a silk plantation. Further 
experiments having confirmed their design, a spot 
of land embracing about three hundred acres, was 
selected and leased for that purpose. It is most 
delightfully situated, about three miles from the 
beach, on gently undulating ground, bounded on 
the southern and western sides by a fine brook, 
affording valuable mill privileges, and on the oppo- 
site, by an abrupt range of well-wooded hills, 



106 CULTURE OF SILK. 

attaining an elevation of two thousand feet. The 
prospect from these is lovely in the extreme ; the 
eye glances down upon several plantations situated 
at their feet, with rich, waving fields of sugar-cane 
or mulberry trees, planted in squares, and intersected 
at regular distances with broad avenues, bordered 
by banana plants or ornamental trees. Prettily em- 
bosomed amid shrubbery or neat gardens, like birds' 
nests cradled amid bright flowers and green leaves, 
are the cottages of the superintendents; and near by 
the thatched houses of the laborers, disposed in reg- 
ular rows, fronting the roads. Farther off, the white 
walls of a large church shine conspicuously in the 
bright sun, a striking contrast to the dingy sides and 
distillery-like look of the boiling-house and sugar- 
mill. Around these the natives have clustered their 
rude hamlets, and little patches of cultivated ground? 
the whole affording a gratifying picture of incipient 
civilization. The busy passing to and fro of long 
lines of carts loaded with the sweets of the soil, and 
the swarms of laborers wielding their hoes amid the 
holds, animate the scene. The hoary crest of an 
old crater rises abruptly from the plain near the 
sea, amid a field of indurated lava, a monument of 
nature's wrath in former days. A rugged and tower- 
ing peak, conspicuous above all its brethren, afford- 
ing an excellent landmark, shoots up in solitary 
grandeur to the east, while not far from its base, the 
ocean dashes on the shore in a long line of breakers. 
The beauty of this scene, even as it tempts the eye 
to dwell in unceasing admiration upon its fair fea- 
tures, keeps the pen still employed in tracing its 



CULTURE OF SILK. 107 

outline, fearful lest a single spot of all that rich 
mixture of grand and beautiful, civilized and savage, 
should escape its notice. 

But to the silk plantation again. After the land 
was secured, a large portion of it was immediately 
planted with the native or black mulberry, which 
bears but a small leaf, and was the only variety on 
the islands, (excepting the morus papyfera, and a 
few of the morus alba,) at that time. It flourished 
beautifully, and bore a great quantity of leaves. 
One, taken from the field at random, of eight months' 
growth, afforded three and a half pounds of leaves, and 
in six weeks after it was wholly stripped, it leaved 
out again, so as not to be distinguished from the 
rest. So much were the proprietors encouraged thus 
far, that they imported another variety of the mulber- 
ry from China, known as the Canton, which thrived 
well, and afforded much more food in proportion to 
its size, some of the leaves measuring eight and ten 
inches broad, by twelve inches long. They were all 
planted in hedge-rows, from six to ten feet apart, 
and two feet apart in the rows, and were allowed to 
attain a height of from six to eight feet. The ground 
was kept entirely free from weeds. The Chinese 
worm was also imported at this time, but fed only 
in sufficient quantities to preserve a sufficient num- 
ber of eggs for stock. One of the proprietors em- 
barked for the United States, where he spent eight 
months in acquiring information in regard to the 
business, purchasing machinery for reeling, which 
was intended to be done by steam, and in securing 
the best varieties of trees and eggs, with a family of 



108 CULTURE OF SILK. 

three persons to superintend cocooneries, and to teach 
the natives to reel. So highly was this enterprise 
thought of then (1838) in the United States, that the 
proprietors could have realized an advance of two 
hundred per cent, on their investment thus far. Even 
the most skeptical, in regard to the business there, 
could see no obstacle to its success in a climate 
where the trees gave heavy crops the year round, and 
the temperature was such as to require but little arti- 
ficial protection for the worms. Labor and build- 
ings were also exceedingly cheap, it being found that 
common thatched buildings, such as could be erect- 
ed at the expense of a few dollars each, would serve 
both to feed and reel in, thus obviating the heavy 
expenses required for cocooneries and reeling-houses 
in less favorable climates. The agent arrived from 
the United States in the spring of 1839, and found 
the plantation in a flourishing condition, and well 
stocked with trees. He brought with him the best 
varieties of the American worms, including the 
mammoth white, and yellow, and the pea-nut, also a 
fine lot of the moms multicaulis. These were plant- 
ed immediately, throve well, and were so highly es- 
teemed, that cuttings of but two buds each, were 
sold to others about engaging in the same enterprise, 
for from one to two dollars the slip. The leaf grew 
beautifully, thick and heavy, and to a great length, 
sometimes measuring fourteen inches. Its only ad- 
vantage, by way of food, appeared to be its size and 
rapidity of growth. The worms fed with equal avid- 
ity upon all the other varieties. It was then con- 
cluded to let the black mulberry run out, and to plant 



CULTURE OF SILK. 109 

the latter in its place. After the first year it was dis- 
covered, that if the mulberry was allowed to grow 
beyond a certain size it withered, and became value- 
less as food. This was remedied by cutting it down 
yearly, (the month of January, when vegetation had 
mostly ceased growing, being the best time.) Young 
and vigorous shoots then shot up, in two or three 
months, suitable for food. A sufficient quantity of 
trees being now planted and doing well, it was deter- 
mined to commence feeding the worms in numbers. 
The Canton, white and yellow varieties, were first 
tried, but they formed but small cocoons, of exceed- 
ingly fine fibre, which made a beautiful silk, but a 
large proportion of it was wasted in floss ; so much 
so, that it required many thousands more to form a 
pound of silk, than the American variety, and it was 
found impossible to make them profitable. The 
American eggs were then exposed. No one had 
doubted but they would hatch with the greatest 
readiness ; though in good order, they hatched but a 
few at a time, from four or five to as many hundred 
a day, and none on some days. It was thought that 
the eggs from these would become acclimated, and 
this irregularity cease ; but it proved worse than be- 
fore. Some of the eggs hatched in ten days from 
the time they were laid, while others would not in 
as many months. Every experiment, by way of ar- 
tificial heat, freezing, wearing them next to the per- 
son, and other methods were tried, but all in vain. 
It was discovered that they needed a winter, and 
many were packed up in bottles, and sent upon the 
neighboring mountains to remain several months. 
10 



110 CULTURE OF SILK. 

Their height being but four or five thousand feet, did 
not produce the requisite temperature, and from their 
being imperfectly packed, most of them decayed. 
Those that hatched formed beautiful fine cocoons, 
with but little floss, averaging about four thousand 
to the pound of raw silk. The experiment was now 
tried, of crossing the American breed with the 
Chinese, and with the greatest success. Two va- 
rieties of cocoons were produced, inclining more to 
the American than the Chinese, one of a deep 
orange color, the other of a delicate straw color. 
These answered admirably, requiring from five to 
seven thousand to the pound of raw silk. They 
reeled with the greatest ease, so much so that na- 
tive women, with but few days' instruction, could 
turn off from one half to three fourths of a pound 
daily. Their eggs hatched again in from fifteen to 
twenty days, and came to maturity in twenty-four, 
and continued to do so for upwards of a year, 
without degenerating in quality. It was attempted 
to cross this breed again with the pure American, 
but the worms resulting therefrom were found to 
have so many of the characteristics of the American, 
as to be of little use. 

It was now thought, (the spring of 1840,) that 
every difficulty was overcome, and a profitable busi- 
ness would soon make amends for previous delays 
and losses. But the proprietors, after expending most 
of their funds in thus getting under way, were doom- 
ed to disappointment. A drought set in, such as 
had not been known before since the missionaries 
first resided upon the islands, twenty years since. The 



CULTURE OF SILK. Ill 

trees which had been so flourishing withered under 
its influence, and, at the same time, a species of 
aphides, or wood louse, much like the chiton shell in 
appearance, attached itself to them, speedily cover- 
ing every limb and leaf upon them. What juices 
were left by the drought were soon exhausted by 
those parasites, and the trees became lifeless and 
leafless. The crops of worms which had commenc- 
ed feeding, by hundreds of thousands, were obliged 
to be thrown away, and thus a season's labor was 
lost, while a heavy expense was incurred. In addi- 
tion to this, a species of spider, of a plump, many- 
colored body, of the size of a chestnut, added their 
ravages to the other destroyers, by attaching them- 
selves, by millions, to the young trees, by means of 
a firm, hard web, through which it was quite diffi- 
cult to make one's way. How far these latter are 
the result of the drought, it is impossible to say, but 
it is not at all improbable, if a favorable season 
should set in, that they will be destroyed. The 
strong trade-winds also did damage, by whipping 
the leaves, and, daring the winter season, when a 
'kona,' or southerly gale blew, the fields, and vege- 
tation generally, were as much affected as if they 
had been touched with frost. Leaves, flowers, and 
blossoms wilted and fell from their parent stalks, 
crusted, apparently, with a coating of salt. How- 
ever, these casualties, which affected mulberry trees 
to so disastrous an extent, extended their ravages to 
most other plants, and though the lice or spiders did 
not affect the sugar-cane, yet the drought diminish- 
ed the crop at least one half. 



112 A BEAUTIFUL SECLUSION. 

In 1841, the proprietors, unable to bear any fur- 
ther expenses in prosecuting a business against so 
many obstacles, relinquished the undertaking. The 
land has since been planted with sugar-cane. 

Of the many beautiful and healthy spots which 
God has provided on the face of the earth for the 
residence of his creatures, perhaps few, if any, excel 
some situations in Kauai. If seclusion from society 
be the misanthrope's heaven, a paradise would await 
him here. Nature is all smiles and loveliness. The 
breeze bears health and vigor on its wings. No 
keen, racking wind penetrates to the bones, or 
sweltering heat enervates the system. The air is 
genial and balmy. The fields are verdant, and 
though St. Patrick never visited its pastures, no 
noxious vermin inhabit them. But to the generality 
of men, no charms of the natural kingdom will com- 
pensate for the want of companionship. Society 
has ties and claims stronger even than sympathising 
Nature, though she proclaims, in a thousand elo- 
quent tones, the goodness and all-mightiness of 
her Creator. If any one doubts the strength of the 
heart-yearnings for old homes, and news from a far 
country, let him make, as I have made, such a place 
as Koloa his home, for nine long weary months. 

The weekly packet that bears all despatches to 
this place, is looked for with an eagerness that few 
but those who have experienced the pang of mingled 
hope and disappointment can realize. Perhaps a 
rumor of an arrival at Honolulu, from the United 
States — with letters, bundles, and many a kind token 
of love and remembrance, from absent dear ones, 



NEWS FROM HOME. 113 

has reached here. Twenty thousand long miles 
have they come, and months, may be years, have 
intervened, since the last were received. Expecta- 
tion is on tiptoe. Sharp eyes are turned to the wind- 
ward — days slip by, and still they are not weary 
with watching. The mind seeks relief for hope 
deferred in supposing that some accident has changed 
the common course of nature ; the vessel, as if it had 
a will of its own, won 't come ; or some, less charitable, 
imagine that a malicious pleasure on the part of those 
in charge aggravates the case. , Conjectures are mul- 
tiplied. At last, Sail, ho ! is shouted — former feel- 
ings subside as speedily as they were raised — on 
comes the tiny craft, more like a sea-bird than a work 
of man — impatient of its contents, its swelling can- 
vass filled by a favorable gale. Horses are mounted, 
and the excited expectants ride en masse to the 
beach. How long the minutes are — ■ how slowly 
they work ! the boat is at last lowered, and Captain 
Spankerboom steps ashore with all the importance 
of an ambassador extraordinary, and delivers the 
packet. Now a revulsion of feeling takes place. 
Expectation is succeeded by possession ; possession 
arouses reflection, and reflection gives place to hope 
and fears. A mother, father, sister, brother, wife, 
child, to be heard from; are they well? Death, 
disease, and misfortune, have preyed upon others in 
the mean while ; why should they have been ex- 
empted ? Has business prospered, or will this crush 
all those dear-earned hopes. Each palpitating heart 
confines its queries to its own recesses, and trem- 
bling fingers slowly unseal the dreaded yet welcome 
10* 



114 NEWS FROM HOME. 

intelligence. A long-drawn breath, and in silence 
each devours the precious contents — and here I 
leave them ; this is a common experience to exiles, 
and all can appreciate its truth. After a storm comes 
sunshine, and after letters come boxes ; off fly the 
covers, and the contents are tumbled out with an 
eagerness of curiosity, that untold treasures could 
not have drawn forth. The box is from home — the 
contents from earth's dearest relations. Each article, 
though thousands similar lie unnoticed on the shelves 
of many a shop, is praised, criticised, and praised 
again, and a blessing breathed for the bestower. 
That one word, home, the centre of all that consti- 
tutes happiness in our mother-land, is the spell that 
thus melts the spirit, and revives long dormant affec- 
tions. Thus it is here. Joy is dearly bought and 
dearly prized. Apart from the world, though in a 
paradise of natural beauty, the foreign inhabitants 
form a community sui generis. A Protocol of the 
allied powers of Europe brings no fears to them ; 
whether Metternich regulates his vineyards, or rules 
empires, it matters not. The Grand Porte may 
perish despite his sublimity, and the Celestial Poten- 
tate get knocked on the pate by an English marine ; 
still, grass will grow, water will run, and none the 
less sugar be made in Koloa. Its denizens will retire 
to rest at eight o'clock, P. M., and rise before the 
sun. Not but what there are exciting topics here, 
for there are enough of them. The whole wisdom 
of the place is called upon to devise measures for 
repairing a bridge, or counteracting a sudden strike 
for higher wages, on the part of the tawny laborers. 



A SINGULAR EXCURSION. 115 

If any man wants occupation, and plenty of it, let 
him undertake the surveillance of a dozen Kauaians 
— old Hays himself would be mystified. The kan- 
akas cheat and abuse their employers, and their rulers 
do their best to cheat both white and copper skins. 
The old lady who now holds the reins of govern- 
ment keeps a shrewd eye to the personal profits. 
According to custom, when His Majesty was to visit 
this island, new houses must be erected for him and 
his suite. Amelia selected a site, very convenient 
to her own lands, but by no means so for the pur- 
pose of the King. His men were obliged to build 
them; after the arrival, they, as Amelia doubtless 
anticipated, did not suit him, and he slept elsewhere. 
As soon as he was gone, the wily governess appro- 
priated them to her own use, and thus secured two 
good houses at no expense to herself. 

A few miles to the west of Koloa is a mountain, 
called by the natives Kahili, or ' fly-brush ; ' why 
this name I know not, as the most imaginative fancy 
could not detect a resemblance in any particular 
between the two. In fact, it differs so little from its 
neighbors, that it would attract but a partial glance, 
or be noted only as an interesting feature in the 
general landscape. Then why all these words about 
% it, one will be inclined to ask. I will tell. Simply 
because it was my fortune one day to ascend it, in 
company with ^ome friends : and being much grati- 
fied with the excursion, I wish to take the reader up 
with me, as well as pen and ink will allow. 

There are others not far distant, that are higher 
and larger, and even more picturesque ; and many 



116 A SINGULAR EXCURSION. 

more grand in their outline ; but as my legs did not 
carry me to their summits, I shall not venture to say 
much about them, particularly as it would be in- 
fringing upon a right which some tourists seem to 
have appropriated to themselves — that of describing 
things they have not seen, — though it cannot be 
said of them any more than of myself, that they 
leave unwritten what they have seen. But the horses 
are now saddled; mount and follow. The morn- 
ing is fine, and our steeds gallop well ; the plain is 
rich in verdure, and after a few gulches are crossed, 
we shall be there. These gulches are an abomina- 
tion to man and beast ; their beds are very apt to be 
laid in a soft, adhesive mud, overgrown with a 
treacherous carpet of heavy grass, into which the 
inexperienced traveller plunges, and is somewhat 
surprised to find his horse disappearing rapidly from 
under him, flouncing and thrashing like a struck 
whale, and covering both with a coating of greasy 
earth, which, if they were destined to become taro 
patches, would be well enough — but is apt to make 
one sigh over the beauty of his ci (levant milk-white 
inexpressibles. Frequently it is no small labor to 
extricate the horse from these quagmires; but after 
a few experiences of this nature, it is quite as dilli- 
cult to get the wary animal into one. Once I saw 
one, in his efforts to avoid a suspicious place, throw 
off his rider, and get thrown himself down a steep 
bank, turning a half somerset in his course, until he 
landed on his feet in a brook at the base of the hill. 
However, if it were not for these incidents, and some 
others of an equally agreeable nature, of which more 
anon, travelling would not be worth a fig on Kauai. 



MOUNA KAHILI* 117 

Mouna Kakili, which we shortly reached, we 
ascended on foot, following up the back-bone of the 
spur which leads to the very summit. As it was 
steep and slippery, owing to the smooth grass, our 
progress at first was slow, and our knees soon began 
to tremble, and no doubt, as far as they were concern- 
ed, wished they had not come. Ascending higher, the 
mountain gradually becomes more densely wooded, 
and the spur narrower, until its breadth is scarcely 
two feet, presenting a sharp ridge, bordered on either 
side by precipices of several hundred to some thou- 
sand feet in depth. These precipices are overgrown 
with vegetation, sparse towards the top, where the 
banks are too steep for soil to accumulate, but grad- 
ually growing denser until it reaches the bottom, 
where they terminate in dells crowded with groves of 
dark-leaved hau, the silvery-leaved kukui^ and the 
stately ohia, with its beautiful red flowers, contrast- 
ing finely to the various shades of surrounding green. 
So thick is the foliage in these sylvan retreats, that 
a tropical sun cannot penetrate their recesses. The 
feathered tribes fully appreciate their grateful shades, 
and in the heat of the day resort thither to practice 
their sweet tunes, and to retort the mocking notes of 
the surrounding echoes. Were it not for the brush- 
wood, with which the ridge is covered, the ascent 
would be at this point somewhat dangerous, as few 
eyes could gaze steadily down the dark glens on 
either side; but the foliage of the trees partially 
breaks the view, and their limbs afford a sufficient 
support. When near the summit, vegetation be- 
comes dense in the extreme, consisting of tangled 



118 MOUNA KAHILI. 

masses of shrubs, and small trees, so thickly inter- 
locked as to form a complete net work ; a chevaux 
de fris, through which it requires great caution and 
labor to work one's way. Overhead, the leaves 
form an impenetrable barrier to the sun, while be- 
neath, the trunks, limbs, and vines, form an equal 
one for the earth. In fact, one here makes his way 
by crawling, jumping, and swinging from branch to 
branch, for many hundred feet, without once touch- 
ing his feet to the soil, or, for part of the way, even 
seeing a trace of it. As this part of the mountain 
is nine tenths of the year buried in clouds and rain, 
the dampness is great, and the mosses which encircle 
every limb, like the shaggy coat of the Greenland 
bear, are saturated with water. The young tree is 
here to be seen in all its vigor, maintaining an une- 
qual contest with a legion of parasitical vines, and 
numerous families of ferns, which like leeches are 
exhausting its life-blood. Though yielding inch by 
inch to its foes, it still sends out fresh shoots, which 
seek an unguarded opening through the drapery of 
vines, to reach the outer air. These trees may be 
compared to a profligate roue, whose graceful and 
athletic figure is fast being destroyed by the vices 
which it has nourished, while the old and decayed 
trunks which every where lay about them, strangled 
by hugh vines, and rotting in the dampness, portray 
in bold relief the fate which awaits those that strug- 
gle on to old age. While my mind was indulg- 
ing in fancies sad or humersome, my body was 
equally alive to surrounding objects; for the path 
had now become so intricate and narrow, that the 



A LEGEND. 119 

vision could reach but a few feet distant on any side, 
and those in the rear got many a thump by following 
too close to the heels of those in advance. The 
moss which encircled the branches, proved a treach- 
erous guide to their size, and many a foot or fist 
hold was lost by the seemingly stout limb, as the 
mass was grasped, degenerating into a little twig, 
which broke upon touching, and precipitated the 
careless climber backwards into beds of their slimy 
and chilly covering, which discharged their oozy 
contents upon us at every step. After groping our 
way in this fashion for an hour or more, we reached 
the summit. It consisted of a small plot of earth 
about a rod square, bare in the centre, but overgrown 
with stout trees upon its sides. Upon it were sev- 
eral large timbers, of a foot in diameter, standing per- 
pendicular, and about twelve feet high, with notches 
for foot-hold cut in them. These, as runs the legend, 
have stood from time immemorial, that is to say, 
some half century or more, and are the remains of 
a fortification which a chief erected, who lived on 
bad terms with his less elevated neighbors. As the 
approaches to its site are a succession of narrow 
ridges, a few warriors were able to set a host of 
enemies at defiance, and make the place impregna- 
ble. During the night his followers sallied down 
and levied black mail, in the shape of pigs, fowls, 
taro, and potatoes, for their lord's table. "What was 
his end, the legion tells not ; but if his enemies did 
not eventually take him off, an influenza must, for 
no mortal could have lived there long, not even if 
possessed of a hide such as Nebuchadnezzar boasted, 



120 A LEGEND. 

when he chewed the cud of sweet and bitter reflec- 
tion, and of clover, in the fields with the brutes 
whose understandings were just double his. Gre- 
cian mythology would have turned the whole posse 
of them into moss-clad trees, while the whistling 
winds would be but echoes of their groans, and the 
never-ending showers, the tears of their victims, 
in which they were doomed to lay soaked until 
some greater scoundrels could be found to take their 
place. However, as I am neither poet nor Greek, 
they must await some more illustrious visitor to im- 
mortalize their manes. If their wan spirits still 
wander about the scenes of their fleshly iniquities, 
my best wish is, that they are bountifully supplied 
with water-proof garments, for it is a damp place 
for the living. 

The view from thence is extensive. It embraces 
a large portion of the island, which lay spread out 
beneath us like a map. A dense fog soon set in, 
and cut short all our extasies, and shrouded all 
around and beneath us as completely from our view, 
as if we had been taken to another planet, or 
another flood had arisen, and left us sole denizens 
of this. An ocean of vapor lay at our feet, rapidly 
rising higher, and the little spot we stood on was 
our world ; one peak only of another mountain, 
many miles distant, remained above the clouds, a 
companion to us in our cheerless solitude. It was 
a time for many beautiful thoughts and fine com- 
parisons, but the dampness was exceedingly disa- 
greeable, and altogether too chilly for loafers at that 
atmospherical elevation ; our bowels also yearned 



VALLEY OF HANAPEPE. 121 

strongly for the dinner we had left at the foot of the 
mountain ; so, after resolving that as it was our first 
view it likewise should be our last, we beat a retreat. 
The fog was thick, and our stomachs were empty — - 
swinging ourselves from branch to branch, we soon 
found ourselves on a level with our dinner, which 
was devoured with a celerity which must have been 
astounding to any whose appetites had not been 
sharpened by a similar excursion to the land of fogs. 
Half way between Koloa and Waimea is the 
Valley of Hanapepe, which affords some of the most 
remarkable views there are to be found upon the 
island. After passing the battle-plain of Wahi- 
awa, a fertile tract of country, partially overgrown 
with wild sugar-cane, the visitor comes suddenly 
upon the brink of this valley, which on both sides 
present steep and precipitous banks, of many hun- 
dred to some thousand feet in height, and accessible 
only at a few points. As they approach the sea, the 
valley widens, and they decrease in height, exhibit- 
ing perpendicular masses of red columns of cavern- 
ous lava, A fine stream runs through the valley, 
on either side of which are situated the little planta- 
tions, and numerous patches of kalo, which afford 
sustenance to the inhabitants of this quiet retreat. 
Their principal hamlet is clustered under the shade 
of the cocoa-nut trees at its mouth. The natives of 
all the islands seem very generally to prefer the hot 
and barren sea-side, to the cooler and more verdant 
situations farther up the valley. This is probably for 
the sake of the fisheries, and the sport of sea-bathing, 
to which they are passionately addicted ; and a 
11 



122 SURF-SWIMMING. 

pretty sight it is, to see the youth of both sexes on 
their surf-boards, sporting as freely amid the heavy 
rollers, as if they knew no other element. At one 
time pushing their boards before them as they ad- 
vance seaward, diving beneath each curling wave, 
until they have reached the outer extremity of the 
breakers, then throwing themselves flat upon their 
support, like a boy upon his snow-sled, they dart 
inshore with the rapidity of lightning, upon the 
crest of the waves, merrily shouting all the while, 
dashing and splashing along, till within a few feet 
of the rocks, on which, your breath half held from 
fear, you have been momentarily expecting them to 
strike, to the risk of life or limb ; but which, by a 
dexterous movement of their limbs, they avoid, and 
pull out to sea again, or throw themselves from their 
board, which is thrown up by the spent wave, almost 
at your feet. Formerly, old and young engaged in 
this sport, but now it is a rare sight. 

Hanapepe valley, like most of the others, extends 
inland until it reaches near to the centre of the island. 
As it recedes from the sea-side, the mountains be- 
come higher and more precipitous, varying their 
form and appearance at almost every turn : at times 
presenting darkened and narrow gorges, through 
which the river rushes with great violence ; then 
expanding into vales of moderate width, affording 
sufficient room for a few houses, with the cultivated 
plats about them. At the head of the valley the 
scenery is sublime in the extreme. The rush and 
flow of boiling lava while dame Nature was engaged 
in piling up the mountains which form the back- 



REMARKABLE FREAKS OF NATURE. 123 

ground must have been terrible. Some appear 
to have been east up at one convulsive throe, pre- 
senting bold and gigantic fronts; others seem now 
to be struggling for existence among rivals which 
crowd and press them down. In some places they 
push boldly out, then, as if wearied by the effort, 
they rest. At others, they were overwhelmed by 
some more powerful torrent of lava, or have cast 
back its streams in burning billows, which broke, 
and cooled into many singular shapes. They are 
to be seen in all the fantastic forms which the fiery 
liquid assumes when turned from its course by inter- 
vening obstacles ; or else dashed aside and scattered 
far and wide by the shocks of earthquakes. The 
rocky sides of the mountains show, by their irregular 
piling and distorted veins, the several directions 
which the liquid lava took after it found a vent from 
its original bed. At some points, the mountains 
appear to have been rent violently asunder, leaving 
sides of uniform appearance. At others, the lava 
in its downward course seems to have suddenly 
cooled on either side of the stream, while the inte- 
rior flowed on, until it discharged itself into the sea, 
where it formed shoals, which are now overgrown 
with coral. Such is the fact with this valley, and 
Waimea, Wailua, and others. In all of these a rich 
soil has formed, which is now covered with a heavy 
growth of timber, and dense beds of mosses and 
ferns. 

As these passes of the valley alter their course, the 
temperature of the air changes. Some, being ex- 
posed to a powerful sun. are hot, while others are 



124 A CATARACT. 

chilly and damp, with strong breezes blowing through 
them. 

Native art has diverged the river's channel in seve- 
ral places, for the purpose of catching fishes, by dam- 
ming it, and leading the water over a frame of 
wicker-work. As the fishes come down the stream, 
they fall upon this frame, while the water passes 
through the interstices, leaving them prisoners. The 
depth of the water varies from a few inches to eight- 
een feet. 

Following this valley up for several miles, and 
passing a number of lofty cascades, a water-fall 
comes partly in view; but it is again lost to the 
sight, until, after turning a sharp angle in the glen, it 
reappears, and the visitor finds himself, a few rods 
from the fall, upon a narrow ledge of rocks. In that 
direction nature's fiat proclaims, ' Thus far shalt thou 
come and no farther.' A perpendicular wall, be- 
tween three and four hundred feet in height, and 
forming so complete a circle, that no outlet, except 
that which the stream makes, is seen ; and it is only 
by following up its bed, through dense thickets, that 
this spot can be reached. The circle is small, and 
the rocks above partly project over the outlet, so that 
it appears like a tunnel, and the sun can reach its 
bottom only when vertical. Nothing can be seen 
except a few scattering shrubs which border the top. 
Fleecy clouds drive rapidly past, before the strong 
gusts of these mountain regions. The air here is ex- 
ceedingly cold and chilly, and the rocks wet and 
slippery with spray. If the visitor is heated by his 
excursion, it would be dangerous for him to approach 



GREAT MORTALITY AT HANAPEPE. 125 

the fall, before he is cooled, as the perspiration is 
liable to be suddenly checked. Opposite, and far 
above him, is the fall ; there, about ten feet in width 
and several in depth, but varying in volume accor- 
ding to the rains, springing from between two nar- 
row and overhanging masses of basaltic columns, it 
leaps nearly thirty feet, strikes a ledge of rocks, and 
gradually spreading and lessening in thickness, falls 
many more, and strikes another ledge ; from thence 
falling again an equal distance, into the deep and 
circumscribed gulf below, whitening with its foam 
the whole surface of the rock from the height above. 
Although the rich scenery so well repays one for 
the fatigue of the excursion, yet few whites have 
ever reached this spot, and it still remains secluded 
and almost unknown ; a gem to reward the tourist. 
This valley was once peopled by a bold and warlike 
tribe, whose deeds were the honor and admiration of 
the other portions of the island. Death, of late, has 
been busy among their ranks, and they have dwin- 
dled to a few hundreds, living in more than ordinary 
wretched hovels, but with abundance of food about 
them. Returning from the excursion which has 
drawn forth this description, the missionary who re- 
sides at Waimea was with me. Upon reaching the 
outer line of huts, near the beach, a number of na- 
tives rushed out and arrested our progress. After 
they had exchanged a few words with my clerical 
friend, he turned and begged me to excuse him for a 
few minutes, as he was desired to join a couple in 
the bonds of matrimony. He entered the house, and 
in a few minutes the ceremony was over. As we 
11* 



126 A NECESSARY THOUGH SUDDEN MARRIAGE. 

were leaving, the bride, ' all tattered and torn,' issued 
from the door and went about her customary labors, 
as coolly and unconcernedly as if wedlock had been 
a thing of long standing with her, and instead of her 
first, she had married her seventh husband. Her lord, 
a mere boy, looked the picture of sheepishness. A 
glance at her situation showed us at once that the 
missionary's visit was opportune, and that she would 
have been obliged soon to have served the state, by 
working on the public ways, had she not, instead, 
wisely concluded to serve a husband. 

The roads over this island are mostly the work of 
the luckless wights of both sexes, who have been de- 
tected in their amours. As both they and the bridg- 
es are in excellent repair, and the number of those 
whose sins are discovered it is presumed bears but a 
small proportion to those whose sins are not, it shows 
that the crime of licentiousness is still very prevalent. 
In fact it far outnumbers all others, and while the 
grosser and more open violations of the laws can 
easily be detected and checked, these will only van- 
ish when well regulated households and domestic 
virtues, take the place of the filthy huts and disor- 
derly habits of the peasantiy. Of the existing gene- 
ration, whose early days were nurtured among the 
orgies of heathenism, or the corruptions of the court 
of Liholiho, not much can be expected. But better 
things are predicted of the young, to whom schools 
and moral teachings have become familiar. 

Seven miles beyond Hanapepe, to the west, lies 
the village of Waimea, the capital of the island, and 
residence of the present Governess, Amelia, formerly 



THE GOVERNESS. MISSION HOUSES. 127 

wife of Kamehameha's veteran general, Kaikoewa, 
ruler of Kauai. She is now married to a common 
native. Waimea is a dusty village, situated on the 
beach and west bank of the river of the same name. 
Its population has dwindled to a third of its former 
number, when ships made it a recruiting place, and 
it is still rapidly decreasing. A sail is now rarely 
seen in its roadstead, and its. barren soil, which is of 
a dark-red hue, and excessive heat, make it one of 
the least desirable residences on the islands. One or 
two foreigners reside there, beside a mission family, 
(Mr. & Mrs. Whitney,) who are stationed there, and 
have occupied the ground with great zeal and faith- 
fulness for twenty years. Another family was con- 
nected with them, but a few years since it was 
deemed desirable that they should remove to Koloa. 
The house which they occupied, which was a good 
two story wooden building, and erected at consider- 
able expense, is now left a prey to the elements, and 
of no use to any one. It might be made useful as a 
school-house, but, for some reason, has never been 
occupied, since the family, for whom it was built, re- 
moved from it. 

The Governess has also a very good wooden 
dwelling-house, prettily situated, upon a hill, which 
was built for her late husband, by foreign mechan- 
ics; but it is kept in very poor repair, and is sel- 
dom occupied. However good houses the chiefs 
may have, they prefer to sleep in thatched huts, after 
the good old custom of their ancestors, while their 
finer dwellings are kept only as matters of state, and 
to gratify their pride in the eyes of foreigners. To 



128 RESIDENCE OF RULERS. STRAW PALACE. 

use them, is quite as inconvenient as it is to a com- 
mon native to mount a pair of tight pants; a pen- 
ance which he will endure for an hour or two of a 
Sunday or holyday, but which he is very glad to lay 
aside for the male 

Amelia, however, prides herself upon possessing 
the finest thatched house, after the Hawaiian style, 
upon the islands. It was a work of gallantry on the 
part of her late lord, and one of his last works of any 
nature. Not long before he died, which was in 
1839, she expressed a wish to have such a building 
erected. Governor Kaikoewa, who, by the way, 
was a severe taskmaster, and, Napoleon-like, had a 
most aristocratic, or rather despotic contempt for the 
word impossible, issued his orders, and the work 
was commenced. Amelia, with an equal disregard 
to any obstacles which nature might present, or 
moved by that spirit which enhances the value of an 
object by the effort to obtain it, selected, not just the 
site which was the most eligible, and of which there 
was abundance, to wit, dry ground, but the miry 
beds of some fish ponds and taro patches. Many 
months' labor were spent in filling ihese up, notwith- 
standing the high dignitaries of the land set a most 
edifying example of labor, by occasionally exerting 
themselves to deposit a few handfuls of earth therein, 
by way of encouragement to their vassals. Portly 
dames and lusty kanakas might have then been seen 
wending their way to the pit, in full, living suits of 
dame Nature, puffing and panting, under the efforts 
to move their unwieldy limbs, while boys and girls, 
men and women, all that could go beyond a creep, 



A NOBLE CANOE. FORT. 12 ( J 

vied with them in — Jaziness. However, the work 
advanced, under the eyes of the old governor, and a 
foundation was at last made. The building erected 
was one hundred and ten feet in length, thirty-four 
in breadth, and thirty to the ridge pole. It is a neat 
and pretty house, with an air of savage grandeur 
about it, which is pleasing. The interior was one 
fine hall, but has since been divided into two rooms, 
and from the fineness of the cinet, and the neatness 
with which it is laid on, the whiteness of the rafters, 
regularity and size of the posts, smoothness of the 
thatch, and good proportions of the whole, presents 
quite a regal appearance, and is well worth the at- 
tention of a traveller, particularly, as such governors 
as Kaikoewa are becoming scarce, and the chance 
of there being more such buildings erected some- 
what dubious. In it is deposited a canoe, of most 
beautiful workmanship, belonging to Moses, the gov- 
ernor apparent. It is made of a Koalog, and is forty- 
four and a half feet long, three feet deep, and twenty- 
one inches wide, with high prow and stern, neatly 
attached to the main body, by fine cord. The whole 
is finely polished, and from the care with which it is 
preserved, can be but seldom used. 

On the east bank of the river is the stone fort, now 
almost in ruins, which was built by the Russians in 
1S15, for Kaumualii. It still mounts a considerable 
number of small guns, and is of sufficient strength 
to resist any attacks from the islanders, should they 
be inclined again to rebel. 

In full view from Waimea is the island of Niihau. 
Its greatest length is eighteen miles, its breadth eight ; 



130 INTRODUCTION OF FLEAS. 

though the average is not more than five. Its eleva- 
tion is about two thousand feet, much broken up 
by deep ravines, and with a barren soil, which pro- 
duces nothing but a few stunted shrubs, onions, 
yams, and potatoes. The inhabitants suffer much 
from want of water; their sole dependence being 
upon rain, which is collected and preserved in reser- 
voirs. This island is noted for the manufacture of 
mats, some of which are of high finish and very 
costly. 

Waimea, according to native tradition, claims the 
honor of being the first landing-place of — fleas. 
Their introduction was alter the following manner. 
A woman, as was customary then, having gone off 
to a vessel at anchor in the roads, received from her 
lover, upon her return, a bottle tightly corked, which 
he told her contained valuable waiwai, (property,) 
and that she must not open it until she reached the 
shore. She obeyed his instructions, and overjoyed 
with her acquisition, hastened to show it to her 
friends. Having assembled them all, the bottle was 
uncorked with the greatest care, and looking in, they 
beheld nothing. The nimble prisoners had all hopped 
out, and soon gave being to a countless progeny, 
that have gone on ever since, hopping and biting 
with undiminished zeal. The man should have 
been flayed alive for his mischief, or tied, Mazeppa 
like, to the back of one of his own fleas. 

Kauai contains a greater portion of arable land, 
and more rich, loamy earth, in proportion to its size, ■ 
than the others of the group ; and geologically speak- 
ing, this island appears to be older than its more 



GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 131 

eastern sisters, or has been for a much longer period 
free from any volcanic action, which has given time 
for soil to be made, by the action of the weather upon 
the friable and porous rocks, which commonly form 
the crust of volcanic countries. Age after age has 
accumulated its successive deposits of mineral and 
vegetable decay, until all the more recent and violent 
traces of the action of subterranean fires have grad- 
ually disappeared, and left in their places, fine prairie- 
like meadows, or thickly wooded uplands, some of 
which betray their origin by their crater-form shapes. 
Koloa alone, at this day, boasts of a bond fide crater, 
which, however, is extinct. It is conical shaped, 
and its rough and jagged sides are the abode of num- 
bers of wild goats. Its situation is at the southeast- 
ern extremity, a short distance from the shore, which 
in that immediate region, partakes of its craggy and 
precipitous nature. The lava, in flowing from it, 
formed on all sides a rocky field, the surface of 
which, in its close vicinity, is broken up into thou- 
sands of piles of small but sharp-pointed rocks, 
particularly gratifying to goats, but not equally so to 
their owners, when in chase of them. The earth 
here is pierced in every direction, by labyrinthine 
caves extending long distances under ground, some 
of them containing ponds of water, and having sev- 
eral outlets, which appear through the superincum- 
bent soil, like wells. They resemble the winding 
subterranean galleries of ant-hills, and were probably 
formed by the sudden cooling of the lava on its sur- 
face, when in a state of thorough fusion ; the upper 
crust being the first to acquire consistency, while the 
under stream flowed as long as it found an outlet, 



132 UPLANDS AND LOWLANDS. 

But Kauai, like the remainder of the group, cannot 
be called a rich island. Indeed, when considered 
as a whole, they are barren ; still Kauai, from the 
causes above stated, and from its being the best 
watered, presents by far the most verdant appear- 
ance. The island may be divided into two distinct 
and nearly equal parts — the uplands and the low- 
lands. The former embraces the whole western 
portion, commencing at Waimea on the south, and 
gradually rising inland, until it attains an average 
height of four thousand feet, bordered on the east by 
that chain of mountains which bisects the island from 
north to south, commencing at Hanapepe, and ex- 
tending to Hanalei, of which Mauna Waialeale, 
which throws up its precipitous sides from nearly 
the centre, to the height of six thousand feet, is the 
chief. This upland, for twenty miles on the coast 
to the northwest, forms a precipice, or in the Hawaiian 
tongue, pali, of its full height, four thousand feet, 
and which presents one of the grandest spectacles 
of nature. In most places it is perpendicular, and 
accessible from the sea at one spot only, where the 
natives have, with much labor, constructed a sort of 
ladder, by which they ascend to the heights above. 
Its surface runs at times into the most fanciful and 
fantastic shapes ; sometimes beetling with crags, or 
steepened sides, which appear like the walls of a 
mountain fort, or broken into rugged masses and 
sharpened peaks, resembling the castellated ruins of a 
feudal age. Masses hang tottering overhead, fearful 
to gaze upon, and which annually are precipitated 
into the foaming surge beneath. These frequently 



REMARKABLE CAVES. 133 

leave points so singular and so human in shape, that 
the natives in former times looked upon them as the 
locale of supernatural beings, and rendered them 
worship. At one spot can be traced the giant figure 
of a head, projecting in bold relief from the clear 
sky ; and imaginations less superstitious than those 
of heathen, could easily infuse a spirit of life and 
undefined fear into these singular and formidable 
freaks of nature. At the base of this huge pile, the 
ocean has worn many caves, into which the sea 
rushes with a stunning roar and startling reverbera- 
tions. The passage from one extremity of this prec- 
ipice to the other, is frequently made in calm weather 
in canoes ; but should the wind arise, so great is the 
swell, there would be small chance of saving life, 
and many have perished in the attempt. 

At Haena, its northern extremity, are found caves 
of considerable extent, one of which runs four hun- 
dred feet into the solid rock, forming spacious but 
low chambers, of almost equal breadth. In it is 
shown a lurking-place, formed by an indentation in 
the rock, so well concealed that in former times, a 
chief, when pursued by his foes, took refuge there : 
and though they came near enough for him to touch 
them, he remained undiscovered, and saved his life. 
According to the natives, this cave is gradually sink- 
ing from above, and diminishing its limits. Near it 
are two others, of less extent, containing ponds of 
fresh water, fifty feet in depth, their roofs being of 
the same height. One of these is encrusted with a 
coat of lime, which also covers the surface of the 
water, giving it a singular appearance ; so much so, 
12 



134 SPOUTING-HORN. 

that the natives are afraid to venture into it, conceiv- 
ing it to be the abode of evil spirits. However, my 
experience proved that a few gun-flints had more 
charms for them than the ghosts had fears, though I 
doubt much if a bribe could have induced them to 
venture in, if a haole had not been present. 

A remarkable natural curiosity exists at the water- 
side at Koloa. It is called the Whale, or Spout in g- 
Horn, and is formed by a ledge of rocks, which 
extends to a short distance into the ocean; and 
which, by the action of the waves, has become 
pierced with caverns and a labyrinth of galleries. 
The sea has worked through one of them an outlet 
to the surface of the rock above. It is now three 
feet in diameter, and communicates with the largest 
of the caves. During a strong wind, at every swell 
of the sea the water is driven into the cave, and 
passes out at this opening with great velocity, form- 
ing a large column, rising to the height of from 
thirty to sixty feet into the air, from which elevation 
it spreads itself in sheets of spray and foam. The 
noise accompanying this discharge is tremendous ; 
much like that produced by the escape of steam 
from a high-pressure engine. The warm air is also 
forced through numerous crevices in the surrounding 
rock, with a shrill and piercing scream. The force 
of the jet of water through this opening is so great 
as to cast out stones of considerable size and weight 
into the air, when thrown into the orifice, as the sea 
approaches. The native name of the place is puhi t 
to blow or puff. 

The upland or table region, as it rises from the 



GREAT BODY OF ARABLE LAND. 135 

south, is parched and barren, presenting nothing but 
a light soil of a reddish hue, until it attains its great- 
est elevation, where a region of heavy woodland 
commences, from which the trees for canoes, and for 
large timber, are obtained. As it approaches the 
north, showers become more abundant, and the far- 
thest portion is most of the time enveloped in clouds 
and drenched in rain. The land is cold and cheer- 
less, and broken up into deep morasses and inac- 
cessible ravines. None of the productions of the 
lower region will thrive here, though it is not at all 
improbable but that some of the vegetables of the 
temperate climates would do well. Its damp and 
chilly atmosphere drives man to the more genial 
weather of the valleys, and it is never visited except 
by parties for timber, or a traveller, from curiosity. 
The cold is great during the summer, and in the 
winter hail and snow are not unfrequent. 

The lower region, which embraces all the eastern 
portion of the island, is much broken up by valleys 
and small ranges of mountains, with fine rolling 
upland between them. Towards the interior it 
becomes well wooded, and all of it is watered by 
numerous streams, which come tumbling from the 
mountains in cascades, some of which are of great 
height and beauty. These uniting at their base, and 
forcing their way through dark gorges, and over 
shelving rocks, gradually receiving additions in their 
rapid course, form at last the rivers with which this 
island abounds, and which characterize it from all 
the others of the group. The principal of these are 
Hanalei, Waialua, Hanapepe, and Waimea. All 



136 CLIMATE. 

of these, with their tributary streams, afford an inex- 
haustible supply of water power, much of which 
will doubtless be turned to valuable account for the 
plantations, which the numerous facilities and good 
soil will finally concentrate here. 

The great body of this lowland region ( as I 
have termed it, to distinguish it from the more eleva- 
ted country ) extends from Hanapepe valley on the 
south, to that of Waioli on the north, a distance of 
fifty miles in length, averaging from three to four 
miles in breadth, in some places extending back ten 
or more. Almost all of this tract is suitable for the 
culture of sugar-cane, or indigo; the Bengal variety 
of which grows luxuriantly, even without any care 
bestowed upon it. The valleys, which are well pro- 
tected from the wind, will do well for coffee. Cotton 
of a fine silky staple does well, and produces abun- 
dantly, but is subject to the ravages of a worm which 
destroys the pod just as it arrives at maturity; con- 
sequently as yet the natives have not attended to its 
culture. Tobacco grows well, and is cultivated to a 
considerable extent. The best soil is to be found 
in the valleys watered by the larger streams, which 
annually enrich their banks by their alluvial deposits- 
it is on only such sites that the orange, fig, and lime 
trees flourish. 

Kauai is so near the temperate zone, that a per- 
petual struggle seems to exist between the habits of 
the colder climes and the perennial green of the 
tropical. Some trees shed their leaves to a great 
extent in autumn, and await the showers of spring 
to clothe them anew, while others retain their old 



STORMS. 137 

dress and vigor, without any apparent change. The 
grasses ripen and cast their seed in fall: orange trees 
blossom in February, and bear fruit from March to 
September. Figs, and some other fruits, bear two 
or more crops annually. The climate is delightful, 
being of that happy medium between the extremes 
of heat and cold, which is the most agreeable to the 
constitution. The trades, which so greatly mitigate 
the tropical heats, prevail very generally for ten 
months during the year, frequently blowing a gale 
of wind, or more often, as they reach the land, varied 
by heavy squalls. They range from North to East, 
but usually N. E., bringing with them on the wind- 
ward side much rain, which gradually decreases in 
quantity as it recedes from the summits of the higher 
mountains that first attract and break the heavy 
clouds of vapor; so that at the southernmost points, 
except during winter, very little falls, and sometimes 
droughts destructive to the sugar crops ensue. At 
Hanalei, on the windward side, it has been known to 
hail. From December to March the trades are liable 
to be interrupted ; the wind commonly prevailing 
from the S. E, to the N. W., and much of the time 
calm. The atmosphere then is dry, and remarkably 
pellucid ; the heavens free from clouds, the water- 
courses low, and the weather cool and bracing. 
The evenings are most lovely, and the sunsets array 
themselves in their choicest tropical rays, presenting 
scenes of the most enchanting beauty. 

These islands are not subject to the hurricanes 
common to other tropical climates, though occasion- 
ally it blows sufficiently strong during the winter 
12* " 



138 MINERALS. 

months, to prostrate the frail habitations of the natives, 
and do damage to the trees. Thunder and lightning 
arc of very rare occurrence. The average tempera- 
ture of the inhabited parts of the island, is not far 
from eighty degrees F. at noon ; mornings and even- 
ings are much cooler. At Koloa, the thermometer 
has been as low as forty-eight degrees F., once dur- 
ing five years ; and frequently at fifty-two, fifty-five, 
and fifty-eight degrees, and as high as ninety-three 
decrees. 

The minerals of Kauai are few, and of little 
variety, embracing the usual kinds of porous or com- 
pact lava ; in some places basaltic columns make 
their appearance. The soil is very generally free 
from stones, except in the neighborhood of Koloa. 
Pumice-stone is occasionally found, and some traces 
of iron. To the west of Waioli a beautiful compact 
sandstone occurs, suitable for building. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Travelling in Kauai. — Horse and Equipments. — Crazy Guide.-— 
Stuttering Jim. — Cruelty of a Chief. — Narrow Escape of a Mis- 
sionary. — Gov. Kaikoewa's Embryo City. — His Harbor. — Brig 
in trouble. — Desire of Natives to display their Knowledge of 
English. — Wailua River and Village. — An Ex-queen. — Her 
History. — Hospitality. — Large Cattle. — A Disappointed Sports- 
man. — Celebrated Falls of Wailua. — Singular Freak of a Chief. — 
Two Hawaiian Sam Patches. — Inland Scenery. — Mauna Waia- 
leale. — Wild Swine. — Dogs. — Degradation of Kauaian Women. 
— Obtain some Crania, and a New Title in consequence. — Hos- 
pitality of Common People. — Offices and Titles. — Anahola. — 
A Veteran of Kamehameha. — Prince of Laziness. — Lomi-lomi. — 
A Temple of God's own building. — A Dangerous Ford. — Roads 
to Waioli. — A Labor of Love. — Valley of Kalihiwai. — Hala 
Forest. — Waioli. — - River and Mountains. — Residents. — Agricul- 
tural Operations. — Silk Plantation. — A Chronological Wood 
Pile. 

For journeys in lands where a carriage would be 
almost as much of a novelty as a steam-engine, and 
where the roads are mere paths, many and confused, 
leading here there and every where, a good horse 
and a good guide are indispensable. It is not 
amiss to have good company. All of these requi- 
sites fell to my lot upon leaving Koloa, for a trip 
along the eastern and northern portions of the 
island. An old resident views the animal which is 
to bear him through dangerous passes, over hill and 
plain, across rivers and gulches, for as many days as 
it pleases him to prolong his journey, with the indif- 



140 CRAZY GUIDE. 

ference of a veteran campaigner. Not so the novice, 
fresh from the lands of rail-roads, steamboats, clean 
sheets, soft bedding, and luxurious feeding. The 
horse with his rude Spanish equipments, a high- 
backed wooden saddle, with a logger-head in front, 
an uneasy article if judged from its appearance, but 
a most serviceable one when in use, and the heavy, 
jaw-breaking bit, all seem strange, and set his pre- 
vious notions of equestrianship at defiance. How- 
ever, he soon finds himself seated with a noncha- 
lance that surprises him, if his practice has heretofore 
been confined to the riding-school, and paved streets. 
The blood quickens with the lively motion of the 
generous beast, whose gait is no stiff, break-neck, 
ungainly trot, destructive alike of grace and comfort. 
His action is as free and easy as that of the wild 
horse of the prairie, and as the refreshing breeze 
sweeps down from among the picturesque hills 
which surround him, his rider's spirit is awakened, 
and he enters upon the tour with a zest and an 
enthusiasm which no other mode of conveyance is 
capable of exciting. So much for my own first 
impressions. My guide merits particular descrip- 
tion. 

Imagine, if possible, a middle-sized, athletic na- 
tive, with long, jet black hair, no two curls of which 
lay in the same direction, and eyes, quick, fiery, and 
wandering. His head fancifully decorated with a 
wreath of forest leaves and flowers, while a necklace 
of vegetable stalks encircles his neck. His panta- 
loons, made of tapa, once whole, but now hanging 
in tatters above his knees, a red-flannel shirt com- 



CRAZY GUIDE. 141 

pleting his wardrobe. This he calls tapa maikai, 
(good clolh,) in distinction to the frail material which 
graces his nether members, which was aole maikai, 
(no good.) A few miles through a bushy road, 
aided by his eccentric deviations, soon lessened the 
difference between them, and both pants and shirt 
would have answered for signal pennants to the 
Flying Dutchman. An iron ramrod, the sole relic 
of his former profession, dangled, en militaire, in his 
right hand. He had formerly belonged to the army, 
but for some mad caper, his chief had discharged 
him. Such is an outline of the being who present- 
ed himself as a guide. Entirely fearless of danger, 
quick in his movements, careless of fatigue, and an 
excellent caterer, he proved himself a valuable ser- 
vant. In addition to all these qualifications, he was 
at intervals crazy, and his whole conduct was a 
complete exemplification of savage eccentricity. 
He was mounted, sans saddle, upon a small, well- 
built horse, between which and his master, a con- 
stant state of warfare existed. As often as the huge 
iron spur, which was bound to the foot of the guide, 
came in contact with the horse's ribs, his heels 
described a semi-circle in the air, while with his 
head he made desperate attempts to bite the rider's 
naked limbs. Four times did the obstinate brute 
cause his rider to perform as many flying somersets, 
1 high in mid air,' before he was mastered. 

It was laughable to witness the contest which 
took place between the wild horse, and his yet 
wilder rider, as he rode furiously over the plain, 
with his gay-colored garments waving in streamers 



142 CRAZY GUIDE. 

from his back. In horsemanship he was equal to a 
Bedouin Arab, or a circus-rider. While crossing a 
stream, he would throw himself flat upon the 
horse's back, at right angles with his head, and 
drink, without delaying his progress. His nights 
were mostly spent in singing and praying; his 
enemies always coming in for a large share of the 
latter. 

Two of his freaks were related to us, which are 
worth recording. His master having sent him to 
catch a young horse, he pursued the animal, and, 
being fleet of foot, soon came up with it; not being 
able to seize its head, he grasped the tail, by the aid 
of which he soon seated himself upon its back. 
His blood now being up, and seeing a large 'bull 
quietly feeding, he forsook the former, and, by a 
similar process, mounted the latter ; and, notwith- 
standing the angry demonstrations of the bull, who 
was raving at the indignity, rode him in triumph 
round the field. His only complaint was, ' that he 
did not go fast enough.' 

The fellow failhfully served me, and despite his 
eccentricities, he was clever enough in his own way, 
and withal most excellent company, if for no other 
reason than to create merriment. His vagaries were 
so many and varied, and performed, too, with such 
ludicrous gravity, that it was impossible to avoid 
indulging in shouts of laughter, which he would 
greet with a contorted, mystified smile, as if wonder- 
ing why the liaole should be so merry, and, servant 
like, considering it his bounden duty to sympathize 
therein. Ragged as he was when he left me, the 



STUTTERING JIM. 143 

next time I fell in with him, he had joined the 
church and turned gentleman. He was dressed in 
a suit of black broadcloth, dress coat, and all to 
match. Upon inquiry I learned, lest his time should 
hang heavy upon his hands, and to raise funds to 
keep his wardrobe in repair, he had consented to fill 
the situation of cook. In justice to him it should be 
stated, that he left his eccentricities outside the 
kitchen, and his cooking was excellent. 

Others to do the needful were with us. Boys, 
fleet of foot, to carry luggage, and to see that during 
the night no evil disposed persons besides themselves 
rode their masters' horses. A feat for which, along 
this route, many volunteers are always to be found ; 
and the traveller not unfrequently sees the faithful 
beast which he left the evening before quietly 
munching his food, the succeeding morning look- 
ing as haggard and trembling as if sprites had ridden 
him hard all night. Two of my boys, yclept No- 
body and Sunshine, were precious rogues, but the 
jewel of the gang was a man known as stuttering 
Jim. According to his own account he had learned 
to stutter in America. He certainly did credit to his 
name. I had secured somewhat of an oddity for a 
guide, but this fellow was even more ragged and 
dirty. He first attracted my attention when chaffer- 
ing for some poultry. To my utter astonishment, I 
heard a voice in very good, but very stuttering 
English beside me, proceeding from as genuine a 
Hawaiian loafer as one need wish to meet with, 
address me as follows. V-v-v-ver-ver-ver-y — 
g-g-oo-o-d hens, S-s-s-sir — b-b-b-b-tt-ter b-b-buy 



144 STUTTERING JIM. 

them S-s-sir — it taking him at least five minutes to 
accomplish the sentence. I bought the hens, and 
inquired his history. Pie had spent several years in 
the United States, and had been a cook in a family 
in Boston. By his own story he was an honest fel- 
low, with whom the world had gone hard — others 
somewhat maliciously whispered that the world had 
only given him his deserts. However, as I thought 
my cortege would be incomplete without such an 
addition, I forthwith installed him as cook and in- 
terpreter, and it is no libel upon his merits to say, 
that for the life of me, I never could decide in which 
department he gave most trouble. As soon as he 
opened his mouth, his brethren, although they stood 
somewhat in awe of his temper, which was none of 
the mildest, began to giggle, and before he could 
complete even the simplest sentence, their giggle 
had increased to a laugh, and then unfortunate Jim, 
mortified and confused, having forgotten what he 
commenced with, was obliged to renew his attempt 
at distinct articulation. And the more he tried, the 
worse it became. Indeed, of all the inveterate stut- 
terers I ever met with, no two equalled him. 
Once I saw him carried completely around a good- 
sized field which he was ploughing, arriving at pre- 
cisely the same place he had commenced the sen- 
tence ' hold on,' as he brought out the final word. 
I tried to cure him, according to the principles laid 
down in Amott's Physics for that infirmity, but 
failed, from want of perseverance on his part, and 
the inveterateness of the habit with him. During 
the time he remained with me, he worked willingly 



CRUELTY OF A CHIEF. 145 

and faithfully, and a year afterwards it grieved me 
much to see him mending the public ways, in con- 
sequence of not having in season mended his own. 
The ride from Koloa, along the east coast, to 
Waioli on the north, is well worth the time bestow- 
ed upon it. The distance is forty -five miles. Leav- 
ing Koloa, the traveller follows, for three miles or so, 
the base of the low range of mountains which bor- 
der it on the north ; he then descends a long hill, 
and finds himself upon the broad belt of lower 
table-land, which, being in general well watered, 
affords fine grazing ground. The hill is still held in 
bitter remembrance, as being one of the many spots 
where acts of wanton cruelty were perpetrated on 
the prisoners taken in the last rebellion. One of 
them was ordered to carry a portly chief upon his 
back to the summit of this hill ; if he failed, he was 
to be bayoneted. He made the attempt, and slowly 
bore up under his load. He had nearly reached the 
boundary which was to insure him life, when, the 
perspiration, and almost the blood, starting from 
every pore, by the intensity of his efforts, his knees 
failed, his limbs trembled, and he sank exhausted to 
the ground. His rider, true to his word, stabbed 
him, and left him to perish of the wound. Near 
this spot, also, one of the missionaries, on his first 
residence in the island, was attacked by two robbers, 
who, rushing from their ambush, discharged their 
spears at him, but the fleetness of his horse soon 
carried him beyond pursuit. This is the only in- 
stance of violence offered to a missionary, since 
their arrival in 1820. 
13 



146 kaikoewa's embryo city. 

Half way to Wailua there is a fine tract of land 
which the late governor selected as a site for a sugar 
plantation, many acres of which he caused to be 
planted with cane, and also built a large church, and 
a house for himself. But death soon terminated his 
scheme, and his city that was to be, still retains its 
original diminutiveness, while all his improvements, 
like his own body, are wasting away to mother 
earth again. Since his demise, the situation has 
been used for camp-meetings, at which a large con- 
course of natives assembled, who behaved quite as 
rationally as whiter field-gatherings in other climes. 
They erected a large number of little huts around 
the church for their temporary quarters ; in appear- 
ance and size they resemble dog-kennels, being not 
over four feet high, and allowing only of a sitting 
posture. The little cove at Hanamaulu was selected 
by the governor as a harbor for his new emporium, 
entirely overlooking the fact that it opened directly 
to the windward. By his orders, the government 
brig Becket was anchored there ; the trades blowing 
completely in, prevented egress, as there was not 
sufficient room to beat out, and the vessel was in 
danger of being blown upon the rocks. Kaikoewa 
immediately ordered out the population, en masse, 
to make cordage, and the brig soon resembled a 
spider entangled in its own web, in which it was 
obliged to remain many weeks. 

One of the most amusing traits of the natives, 
particularly to strangers, is their fondness for display- 
ing their knowledge, or more correctly speaking, their 
ignorance., of other languages. Little urchins, with 



KNOWLEDGE, DISPLAY OF. 147 

scarce years enough over their heads to allow them 
to speak their mother tongue, jump from behind 
walls, or start from their lurking-places, where they 
have been patiently awaiting the approaching traveller, 
and with a most expressive grin, salute him in shrill, 
soprano notes, with a 'dood mornin,' or ' dood nite,' 
a ' bon jour,' or 'bon soir,' and then run away with 
as much happiness expressed in their juvenile coun- 
tenances, especially if the salutation is returned, as 
if they had received a Spanish real for their pains. 
No matter what is the hour of the day — the 'dood 
mornin ' is as frequently the salutation at sunset as 
at any other hour, and perhaps the first sound one 
hears in the morning, is ' clood nite.' On ascending 
the north side of the valley of Hanamaula, we noticed 
a person far ahead who seemed to be awaiting our 
approach. As we drew nearer, w 7 e made him out a 
tall, elderly man, of a venerable aspect, unclothed, 
and maintaining the attitude of a marine upon duty. 
His appearance and position excited our curiosity 
much, and we determined to find some explanation 
to the phenomenon. The statue of Memnon could 
not have been more fixed and silent than he — was 
the fellow mad, or had he experienced the fate of 
Lot's wife, and, for manifesting too much curiosity in 
matters beyond his ken, been doomed to remain a 
curiosity to his fellow-sinners, till sunshine or storm 
should, in compassion, waste him awa}^. There he 
stood. Not a muscle moved — eyes fixed, and 
bright, but still immovable. At length we came 
opposite the apparition — a hollow sound fell upon 
our ears — ' Good morning, sir,' ' Good morning to 



148 WAILUA RIVER AND VILLAGE. 

you, my venerable,' and he turned upon his heel with 
a stately motion, and walked away with as much 
satisfaction as if he had relieved his mind from an 
awful weight of responsibility. 

Wailua river is the deepest on the island, having, 
it is said, not far from its mouth, upwards of twenty 
fathoms of water. A shallow bar separates it from 
the ocean, and the surf breaks heavily upon it, and 
causes the sands frequently to shift, forming quick- 
sands dangerous to horse and rider, when the ford is 
attempted in that direction. During the late war 
between the United States and England, an Ameri- 
can schooner was unladen and hauled over it, where, 
concealed by the high banks of the river, she re- 
mained in safety from the cruiser in pursuit. The 
banks are exceedingly picturesque. The river may, 
with propriety, be considered a miniature Hudson, 
and no one should pass it by, without first ascending 
it in a canoe, and feasting his eyes upon its varied 
beauties. 

The village of Wailua is the property of Kapuli, 
better known by her baptismal name, Deborah. She 
was formerly the favorite wife of Kaumualii, the last 
king of the island. Her history has been a singular 
one, and, for a widowed queen, rather destructive of 
sentiment. After the cession of Kauai to Kame- 
hameha I, by her husband, her influence over him 
excited the jealousy of the government, and he was 
admonished to put her away. This order he had 
sufficient firmness, or fondness, to resist. The con- 
queror dying soon after, left his favorite spouse, Kaa- 
humanu, at once supreme in authority, and incon- 



AN EX-QUEEN. 149 

solable for her loss. Bethinking herself of Kau- 
mualii, who was a well-favored man, and withal 
a tine specimen of the gentleman savage, possessing 
a sufficiency of physical greatness, so necessary to a 
Hawaiian ruler, she at once, to gratify her love, and 
strengthen her policy, ordered him to her bed and 
board. The twain were married October 9, 1821. 
Kaumualii's son, Kealiiahonui, the handsomest 
chief in the kingdom, was likewise compelled to 
participate in this compulsory matrimony, and father 
and son, conjointly, were firmly fixed in her marital 
bonds. These relationships were common in those 
days, but happily became extinct a few years after- 
ward. Deborah, however, was provided with another 
liege lord, who disappeared one day and left her a 
two-fold widow. She has always been a friend to 
foreigners, and entertained them with much hospi- 
tality in the days of her prosperity ; though of late, 
in accordance •with the spirit of the times, and her 
reduced circumstances, she expects a handsome re- 
muneration for a bowl of milk, and a mat-bed well 
stocked with fleas, whose nimbleness is sure to relieve 
the traveller from any fear of stiff limbs by morning. 
Deborah's lot has been a checkered one. Once a 
petted queen, whose will was law, then humbled and 
degraded. A warm friend both to strangers and 
missionaries, kind and hospitable, yet excommuni- 
cated from the church for the same transgression 
which stole from her arms a fond and royal husband, 
she was spoiled of her possessions, and tyrannized 
over by a government which is indebted to her for 

the preservation of the island. For, to her exertions 
13* 



150 HISTORY OF DEBORAH. 

and influence it was owing, that, during the rebellion, 
the inhabitants generally remained faithful to the 
powers at Oahu. Notwithstanding this invaluable 
service, Kaikoewa, jealous of her popularity, upon 
a slight provocation, a few years since, confiscated 
her property, and caused her to be clandestinely 
seized and conveyed on board a vessel, which sailed 
immediately for Honolulu. There she remained for 
some time in poverty and disgrace, supported by one 
of her faithful adherents, until Mr. Richards, interest- 
ing himself in her case, procured from the king a 
reversal of the unjust sentence of the governor of 
Kauai, and restored to her what remained of her 
property. 

Deborah's houses are near the river's side, and are 
a collection of very respectable thatched buildings, 
enclosed by a stake fence. If the visitor has the 
good fortune to ingratriate himself in her favor, the 
pleasure of his visit here will be much enhanced. 
To us she was particularly gracious, and claimed me 
for her ' son ' at once, with a promise to present her 
love to my mother, in America, when I returned. 
If any choice had been allowed me in this claim 
upon my filial respect, I should have transferred the 
honor to her sister-in-law, a lady of less years and 
more comeliness. But, although Deborah was a 
buxom widow of forty years and upwards, six feet 
in height, of three hundred pounds' weight, and ugly 
to gaze upon, once she had been slender and beauti- 
ful. Besides, the substantial tokens of her regard 
which she bestowed upon us, threw a veil over any 
personal defects, and I should be an ingrate to speak 



A DISAPPOINTED SPORTSMAN. 151 

of her in other than favorable terms. Her corpulen- 
cy had of late so increased, that she found it difficult 
to move about. While we remained she furnished 
us with excellent fruit, vegetables, and fish, served on 
plates, and a knife and fork apiece. In fact, our en- 
tertainment was quite after a civilized manner, which 
was the more to her praise, as it was what she sel- 
dom indulged in herself, unless, as on the present oc- 
casion, she was tempted to make a show. Good 
milk and butter were in abundance. A finer herd of 
cattle than she owns I never saw ; they would have 
done credit to a Brighton cattle-show. Some were 
beautiful creatures, of great size, and apparently of 
the better English breeds, having short horns, heavy 
and long bodies, and altogether different from the 
smaller and leaner kind that run wild in the moun- 
tains. In the rear of her house are some extensive 
taro patches and fish ponds, the resort of wild fowl. 
Two species of wild ducks are plentiful, both of ex- 
quisite flavor, without a particle of the fishy taste 
common to their species where their food is gathered 
solely upon the borders of the ocean. One of them 
is small, with gray plumage ; the other is a superb 
bird, and very large, with wings and breast of varied 
green and white. Strolling about their haunts with 
my gun, one of the smaller kind attracted my atten- 
tion. It was quietly feeding amongst a number of 
small birds. Nearer, was a flock of the other, 
close together, to the number of thirty or more. 
They were the first that I had seen, and they appear- 
ed so regardless of my presence, that I concluded 
they were tame, and belonged to my worthy hostess. 



152 CELEBRATED FALL OF WAILUA. 

Not wishing to damage her live slock, I crept by 
them wilhin a rod, without their manifesting alarm. 
My hostile intentions being devoted exclusively to 
the destruction of the solitary bird that had first 
caught my eye, I blazed away ; the poor duck 
turned upwards and kicked its last. Up rose the 
large flock from my feet, astonished at the noise and 
smell of gunpowder, and whizzed away with a ra- 
pidily which convinced me, alas, that they were 
wild, and that that would be their last appearance on 
those premises for that day. A sportsman and a 
duck-loving stomach, alone, can fully sympathize 
with my disappointment. As it was the first, so it 
proved the last time, their beauty and tameness de- 
ceived me. 

Five miles from Deborah's residence, and up the 
river, is the celebrated fall, which no scenery-ex- 
plorer fails to visit, and to bestow the praise which 
it richly merits. A large double-canoe was provid- 
ed for our party, and the kind old queen accom- 
panied us on our excursion. The paddlers shot the 
canoe rapidly forward, chanting the while to a tune 
of olden time, and at every chorus slapping the flat 
part of their paddles in unison against the sides of 
the light bark, while, ever and anon, all, at a signal 
from the helmsman, shifted their paddles to the op- 
posite side. The echoes, from both blow and voice, 
w T ere powerful, and the effect of the whole not un- 
musical. After proceeding in this manner for sev- 
eral miles, following the numerous turnings of the 
river, which expanded, in places, to a large and lim- 
pid, but deep stream, and at others flowed rapidly 



FALL OF WAILUA. 153 

through mountain gorges, we landed on a cultivated 
spot, at the foot of a steep hill. A little hamlet was 
here embowered in a grove of orange and other trees. 
As the labor of ascending the hill was one to which 
Deborah was inadequate, she excused herself from 
accompanying us farther. The day was hot, and 
the place sheltered from the breeze. The hill looked 
formidable, but we did not like to return without ac- 
complishing the chief object of the excursion, so we 
puffed and panted, climbed and slipped and climbed 
again, assisting one another, until the summit was 
gained. 

A few minutes' walk brings one to the fall. As 
we approached, the noise of the falling water became 
louder, yet without indicating, very clearly, its sit- 
uation. The plain is here covered so high with grass, 
and the river so narrowed and concealed by its over- 
hanging and precipitous banks, that nothing of the 
fall is seen, until one is close upon it. Seeing the 
guide stop, a little in advance, I sprang forward, and 
found myself upon the brink of an immense chasm, 
over one side of which leaps the fall. The eye 
sought, in vain, the bottom of the basin, which is 
half hid by the spray, arched by a deeply-colored 
rainbow. The precipice over which the water flows, 
and immediately around it, forms rather more than 
a half circle, and is gradually wearing away by the 
action of the water. As the distance from it in- 
creases, the banks become more sloping, and admit 
of descent, but not without much care and labor. 
Their sides are clothed with trees and vines, without 
which it would be impossible to succeed. They 



154 FALL OF WAILUA. 

also serve to hide the fall from the sight, until the 
bottom is reached, when it bursts upon the view 
again in all its loftiness. A few moments before, 
the beautiful charmed the mind, now the grand over- 
awed it. Advancing a few rods, though with much 
difficulty, over fallen masses of basaltic rocks, the 
explorer finds himself enveloped in the spray. The 
waier foams and curls in eddies at his feet, while the 
half-averted eye scarcely dares look at the threaten- 
ing height above. The rocks overhang the basin to 
a considerable extent. On one side the excavation 
is as smooth as if art had lent its aid to the work, 
while, on the other, the loose stones, and deep cre- 
vices, betoken an insecure foundation. The fall 
tumbles one hundred and eighty feet. The precis 
pices on either side are much higher. The depth of 
the water below, and the narrowness of the gulf, into 
which the sun can send his rays but for a short time, 
daily, heighten the beauty of the spectacle. 

After heavy rains the sheet of water is much in- 
creased, and the volume of the fall acquires a depth 
of five feet, and a breadth of fifty. During the dry 
season it dwindles into a number of diminutive 
streams, which follow the irregular surfaces of the 
projecting rock, through channels of their own wear- 
ing, but finally unite, and form one body before 
reaching the basin beneath. With care, the visitor 
can venture under the sheet, and he will there find a 
rare and beautiful neritina to reward him for his 
labor. 

Half a mile above the fall is a whirlpool, which is 
remarkable for a singular freak of a former chieftain 



INLAND SCExNERY. 155 

of the island. Desirous of immortalizing himself by 
some rude triumph over nature, he caused the course 
of the river to be turned, and laid the channel bare ; 
then seating himself, with his followers, upon the 
rocks in its bed, they drank deeply of awa, until hill 
and dell echoed to the mirth of Ms drunken carousal. 
After securing his immortal self from danger, and 
his awa from dilution, he returned the river to its 
legitimate channel. It is said, that two natives, 
many years since, leaped from the rocks overhanging 
the fall ; one reached the water aiiye and sound, the 
other was killed. 

The landscape, through all this region, is of the 
most pleasing description, such as the eye never tires 
of lingering upon. Far overtowering all other 
.heights rises Ma una Waialeale, from the centre of 
the island ; its sides precipitous in the extreme, yet 
covered with dense forests, through which can be 
.seen the occasional glancing of a silvery cascade, as 
at takes its leap some thousands of feet into deep 
gulfs below. Other mountains, of somewhat less 
altitude, but equally verdant appearance, with long 
and sharp spurs running into the plains beneath, or 
peaks, broken, craggy, and tottering, bound the hori- 
zon on all sides. Gently-rising and slightly-wooded 
hills diversify the broad expanse of the plain, which 
is without other inhabitants than scattering herds of 
untamed bullocks. The long grass is blown to and 
fro over it, by the wind, rising and sinking like the 
waves of the ocean. 

The inhabitants of the island annually make pil- 
grimages, during the dry season, to the summit of 



156 DEGRADATION OF WOMEN. 

Mauna Waialeale, in order to catch a glimpse of 
Oahu. They report, that almost on its top a spring 
exists, which casts up beach sand, and that coral 
and sea-shells are also found about it. Wild hogs 
are numerous in the neighboring forests, and they 
grow to a great size. Of late years, since the na- 
tives have been allowed to keep dogs, many have 
escaped, and now roam wild in packs like wolves. 
Neither goats, cattle, or even men, are safe from 
their ravages ; and several natives, in crossing the 
region where they abound, have been obliged to take 
refuge in trees. Yet, such is their attachment to 
these brutes, they will not allow them to be killed, 
except for food, arid mourn over the loss of one as 
they would for a child. Indeed, it is not uncommon 
to see women of the common class suckling puppies, 
and neglecting their own offspring, and that without 
the slightest shame. They feed them from their own 
mouths, sleep with them, pick and eat vermin from 
them, in fact, show as much devotion to the whims 
of a filthy cur, as the most ardent lover to the smiles 
of his mistress. In no point does human nature 
here seem more degraded, than in the brutal attach- 
ment of the sex for their dogs. Their own children 
are made to suffer from want of the food which is 
freely bestowed upon these animals. 

A few miles beyond Wailua, on the sea-side, is a 
field of battle, and an ancient burial-ground. By 
bribing some adventurous fellows, I succeeded in 
procuring several perfect crania, which were sent to 
Boston. The strangeness of my taste in wishing to 
procure the old bones of their ancestors, about which 



HOSPITALITY. 157 

they cared but little, and knew less, occasioned much 
conjecture among the population, and from that cir- 
cumstance I received the title of ' po kanaka,' or skull 
man, a name by which I was ever afterwards known, 
even on other islands. These relic-procurers were 
bold enough in offering for sale, during the day, the 
fruits of their sacrilegious searchings, but not one 
could have been induced to have approached them 
after sunset. No inconsiderable fear of the dead 
still prevails among them, especially by night, and it 
is a difficult matter to get a native to go out by him- 
self after dark. 

After leaving the regal residence of Deborah, noth- 
ing of particular interest is to be met with on the 
road, until arriving at Anahola. A number of small 
hamlets line the beach, with their usual quantum of 
snarling, barking quadrupeds, which are always on 
the qui vive to welcome a stranger by their deafening 
noise, while troops of naked children crowd around, 
to gaze their fill upon the pale face. It is in these 
by-villages that some faint trace of the primitive hos- 
pitality of Hawaii is yet to be met with, and the 
traveller is still occasionally greeted with the inquiry, 
4 Is your belly empty ? ' Perhaps this laudable cus- 
tom has not diminished as much as expectation of 
an ample remuneration has been raised, and in a 
few years as regular a tariff of prices will be found 
in the grass hovels on this scarce-trodden road, as in 
the most celebrated cafes of Paris. 

Out upon him who turns up his fastidious nose at 
such delicious fare as pigs, fowls, or dog, nicely 
baked with vegetables, in taro leaves, and spread 
14 



158 OFFICES AND TITLES. 

upon the ground a la kanaka, and to be ate a la 
Turk. What if a pet pig, or fowl, provokingly in- 
sists upon sharing dishes with you ? You are all 
upon a level; then why complain ? Delicious mel- 
ons, and a huge calabash of poi, into which the na- 
tives' fingers take two or three turns, and then, with 
a back-handed flourish, are conveyed to the mouth 
with a rapidity and dexterity that defies description, 
complete the repast. If I were called upon to pic- 
ture true comfort and contentment, it would be a 
kanaka eating poi. It is done with so much real 
gusto, such an upturning of the eye, smile of the 
features, and epicurean smack of the lips, that heart 
and soul appear to participate in the enjoyment. 

The partial adaptation of New England titles and 
institutions to the wants of the natives, by their re- 
ligious and secular teachers, strikes one, at first, 
somewhat ludicrously. Judges, school-teachers, and 
other professional characters, are constantly met, 
clothed in little better lhan nature's costume, their 
diplomas and offices contrasting strangely with their 
personal appearance. But improvement is observa- 
ble, even here on the very outskirts of civilization, 
and the dress, deportment, and education of these 
dignitaries are annually becoming more consonant 
with their stations ; while, amongst their inferiors, 
clothes are not looked upon as such objects of curi- 
osity as formerly, and kept to be used only on Sun- 
days. 

No one, who has visited Anahola, will forget an 
old, white-headed chief, who resides there. He is a 
veteran of the former wars, and a favorite of the king, 



A VETERAN OF KAMEHAMEHA. 159 

sent to this retired valley, to sponge a subsistence out 
of its wretched tenants. Upon his old stock of 
heathenism, he has engrafted all the outward traits of 
Christianity, and is as regular, and as sincere, in his 
daily devotions, as a Mussulman, while avarice and 
conning still twinkle in his eyes. Notwithstanding 
this, he is a fine old fellow, and exceedingly kind to 
travellers, particularly if he can make any thing out 
of them. Now this fine old fellow, who, by the way, 
always dresses well, is as studious of his ease, as a 
gouty alderman. Few can boast of ever having 
seen him but in two situations ; one, sitting in an 
arm-chair, grown venerable in the service, in front 
of his house, in the most profound absence of all 
thought, with a menial, shading by an umbrella his 
grey locks from the rays of the sun ; thTs position he 
retains for hours, or more properly for months, with 
all the perseverance of a Hindoo devotee ; for he 
varies it only by retiring to his house, where, reclin- 
ing upon mats, he either sleeps, or submits his body 
to the manipulation of two aged women, who, from 
long experience, are as skilful at ' lomi-lomV as any 
to be found in the group. Occasionally, he directs 
their attention to his visitors ; and if the traveller, who 
consigns himself to their hands, is not fain to cry 
out, 'blessed be he that invented the " lomi-lomV] his 
body must be formed of sterner stuff than mere 
bones and muscles. However wearied he may be, 
fatigue soon leaves him ; each muscle is kneaded, 
each joint cracked, and the whole corporation 
thumped, pounded, and squeezed, until every old 
ache and chafe is fairly driven out of it. A series 



160 A DANGEROUS FORD. 

of less violent knead ings succeeds this, and sleep, 
most delicious sleep, succeeds all ; and, in an hour's 
time, he is ready to cry out, ' to horse again/ 

Bidding 'aloha' to this Prince of Laziness, two 
hours' ride brings us to the Kukui grove, a noble col- 
lection of trees, extending for some miles into the 
interior; a tit temple for Druidieal rites, but now oc- 
cupied for christian worship. In fine weather, the 
inhabitants assemble under the shade of the stateliest 
of these forest monarchs, the branches of one of 
which, by some curious freak of nature, have twisted 
themselves into a very respectable kind of pulpit, 
about ten feet high, from whence the missionary, in 
this church of God's own building, discourses of his 
love, mercy, and justice. 

The roads', from this place to Waioli, are much 
broken up by deep ravines, and rugged, though fer- 
tile valleys, through which rapid streams find their 
way to the ocean. These, when swollen by rains, 
are difficult to cross, especially when the bridges are 
carried away, or made impassable. The night pre- 
vious to the arrival of our party at the banks of the 
most formidable, a heavy rain had fallen, and the 
stream was very deep. At the ordinary ford, the 
large rocks formed dangerous rapids, and, immedi- 
ately beneath them, the river precipitated itself over 
a fall of twenty feet, into a rocky basin beneath. 
Thence, ihe rapids became more furious, rushing and 
foaming on, until they leaped another and higher 
rock, and found a deeper and more quiet course, be- 
low. The noise of the water, rushing with great 
velocity through the rapids, joined with the roar of 



ROADS TO WAIOLI. 161 

the two cataracts, startled both horse and rider. Not 
wishing to retrace our steps, we set our wits at work, 
to devise means of crossing. The horses were taken 
up some way above the rapids, where the river was 
deep, and flowed more smoothly. By dint of blows 
and coaxing, they were forced to plunge from the 
bank ; and, at the first leap, they disappeared under 
the water; but, ropes being attached to them, they 
swam safely across. The males of our party fol- 
lowed their example, after overcoming the chief dif- 
ficulty, which was, to get a lady and her infant over. 
No canoe was to be had. Finally, the natives, by 
advancing, with the greatest caution, to the edge of 
the rapids, and, planting themselves firmly in the 
most shallow places, sometimes three on one spot, to 
balance each other, — for a single misstep would 
have plunged them where even the skill of a Ha- 
waiian in the water might have failed him, — were 
able to form a line across; and the infant was passed 
from one to another, until he arrived in safety on the 
opposite shore. The agonized countenance, and but 
half-suppressed shriek of the mother, in watching its 
progress, told, plainly, her sense of the danger. The 
child over, and all fear for herself vanished. A hol- 
low ]og was found, in which she placed herself, her 
feet in the water ; and, by the assistance of five na- 
tives, in part by wading, and part by swimming, she 
was borne across. In fording the rivers, near their 
mouths, it is not uncommon for a horse to get en- 
tangled in a quicksand, and leave his rider no other 
alternative than a plunge into the stream, while his 
horse must either flounder through, or be pried out. 
14* 



162 A LABOR OF LOVE. KAL1HIWAI. 

The most direct road to Waioli, the inland route, 
is the fruit of the labors of people residing at the Ku- 
kui grove. The missionary, under whose pastoral 
charge they are placed, is is the habit of visiting 
them, once a week, for the purposes of religious in- 
struction and services. Sundays, he is conhned to 
the more populous village of Waioli, where he re- 
sides. The ride thence is twelve miles, and by the 
old road difficult and wearisome, and in wet weather 
dangerous. Notwithstanding these visits were on 
their working-days, the inhabitants cheerfully assem- 
bled, before the hour of his arrival, dressed in their 
best attire, and awaited his coming. But the dilli- 
culties attending this hard ride, and the regular per- 
formance of the duty, proved too much for his health, 
and he was compelled to notify his congregation 
that, unless the road was improved, he should be 
obliged to relinquish his visits. At tills news, the 
whole people turned out, spade and hatchet in hand, 
and, in a short time, made a new and shorter road, 
by which the chief difficulties of the old were avoided. 
This is but one instance of the regard generally en- 
tertained, by the natives, for their religious instructors. 

Kalihiwai, six miles from Waioli, is famed for the 
beauty of its banks, and the number of cascades 
which adorn them. It is commonly known as 'the 
valley of cascades.' The country between the two, 
is a fine, rolling upland, covered with a forest of hala 
trees, which afford an inexhaustible supply of leaves 
for thatching houses, and for making mats. This 
tree is one of the most useful the island affords. Its 
tough wood furnishes strong handles for garden tools; 



HALA FORESTS. WAIOLI. 163 

its leaves shingle houses, supply carpets, and beds; 
and its yellow fruit, notwithstanding its peculiarly 
unpleasant flavor, is good for food, when nothing 
better can be found, and also for what the natives 
value far more, necklaces, with which, from the poor- 
est to the richest, they all adorn themselves. The 
trees are somewhat similar to the banian ; for, when 
they find their tops too heavy for their roots, they 
send out supports from the lower branches, which, 
reaching the ground, answ T er the purpose of an addi- 
tional brace. 

The valley of Waioli, or, as it is usually called, 
Hanalei, from the river that runs through it, is one of 
the finest, as well as most picturesque, on the islands. 
It is small, at its mouth being but a mile in breadth, 
gradually narrowing, until, at the distance of five 
miles inland, its width is measured by that of the 
stream, which is there bordered on either side by 
lofty mountains. The river is a fine, wide stream, 
navigable for boats for several miles. The soil, on 
either side, is of excellent quality, though mostly low 
and wet, except in the immediate vicinity of its 
banks. The debris, washed by the frequent rains 
from the neighboring hills, preserves its richness, 
which, with its sheltered situation from winds, and 
its even and pleasant temperature, render it one of 
the most valuable agricultural districts in the group. 
The bay, which faces to the northwest, and is ex- 
posed to that quarter, is sufficiently sheltered by a 
projecting reef, for vessels to ride at their anchors in 
safety, during most months of the year, while the 
river affords a cheap and safe mode of transportation 



164 RESIDExNTS. AGRICULTURAL OPERATIONS. 

for goods, to those who reside on its banks. The 
mountains on the west rise to the height of five thou- 
sand feet, and are covered with dense forests of trees 
which afford valuable timber. 

A clergyman and teacher of the American mis- 
sion, with their families, reside here, and several for- 
eigners, one of whom has an extensive dairy, and 
manufactures, yearly, a large quantity of butter for 
the Honolulu market. But that which promises to 
be of most interest here, and to afford a valuable 
branch of industry for the native population, is a silk 
plantation, now in a most flourishing condition. 
Four years since, Mr. C. Titcomb, a citizen of the 
United States, procured a lease of land from the 
king, about a mile from the mouth of the river, and 
extending for some distance along its banks, and 
running back to the mountains, embracing a variety 
of soil, from moist, swampy land, to that which was 
comparatively dry. The whole of it is covered with 
a rich vegetable mould, about a foot deep, near the 
river, and on a sand foundation, while, inland, it is 
more boggy, and suitable for taro, though it can be 
easily drained, and adapted to any other purpose. 
At the foot of the hills which form its western boun- 
dary, is a most admirable situation for coffee, which 
the proprietor has turned to good account. But his 
principal attention has been devoted to silk. Thus 
far, he has been successful in producing it of excel- 
lent quality. The quantity will soon be sufficient to 
make it a valuable export. His trees are of several 
varieties, the white, black, Canton, and Morus Mul- 
ticaulis, all of which thrive well, and appear to be 



SILK PLANTATION. 165 

equally good for the worms. He has but twenty-five 
acres planted, which afford more food, already, than 
he requires for his present operations. This is owing 
to the peculiar richness of the soil, which produces 
in the greatest luxuriance and rapidity. Indeed, 
without witnessing, for one's self, the rapid develop- 
ment of vegetation here, it would almost stagger be- 
lief. By repeated measurements, it has been found, 
that the mulberry shoots grow upwards of an inch 
per day, and thousands at the rate of four feet a 
month. The first in a row, and which was by no 
means the largest, I had the curiosity to have cut 
down and weighed. This was three months, lack- 
ing a day, after a previous cutting. Its height then 
exceeded twelve feet; its leaves weighed eight pounds 
and three quarters ; and the new wood, eleven and 
three quarters. This tree was but a common speci- 
men, and many might have been selected, of supe- 
rior height and weight. They are planted very close 
in rows, so as to form thick-set hedges about six feet 
apart. Simply plucking the leaves, was found to 
injure the trees ; and the plan was adopted, of cut- 
ting them down to the ground by rows, and carrying 
the branches into the cocoonery, where they could 
be stripped by whipping them ihrough the hand ; a 
process which saves much labor, and affects the trees 
favorably. In two or three months, the old roots 
throw out shoots of sufficient height to undergo the 
same operation. It has been found best, in order to 
preserve the leaves green and tender, to cut down the 
trees once in three or four months. If they are al- 
lowed to remain longer, their growth is checked, and 



166 61 LK PLANTATION. 

the leaves become hard and dry, and less suitable for 
the worm. This rapid growth may be thought to 
exhaust the soil. No doubt it will, eventually, al- 
though as yet no signs of diminishing productive- 
ness have occurred, though some trees have been cut 
down for the tenth time. These are now in as flour- 
ishing state as any of the others. Besides, the co- 
cooneries afford supplies of manure, from their litter, 
of which a great quantity is collected monthly. The 
adjacent swamps, also, will furnish vast supplies of 
the necessary article, when it is required ; and even 
should these fail, so little land is needed for the rais- 
ing of the mulberry, the proprietor would have but 
to turn- up fresh sods with the hoe, for no plough is 
required, and plant new slips, which, in nine months' 
time, would afford the requisite supply, while the 
exhausted land could remain idle, and be recovering 
from its depletion. Other trees and vegetables grow 
with like rapidity here. Orange trees are weighed 
down to the ground by the abundance of their fruit, 
and the coffee-shrub has commenced bearing the 
second year. The climate is damp, and much rain 
falls during the year. This, it was thought, would 
prove detrimental to the worms ; but one crop has 
been fed through a particularly wet month, and has 
done as well as any of the others. The leaves are 
plucked, the day before they are required, and de- 
posited in a drying house. By the succeeding 
morning, they are fit to feed with. 

The variety of worm raised is the cross-breed, 
between the American variety and the small Chinese 
white and yellow. They form a fine, firm cocoon, 



SILK PLANTATION. 167 

which averages between five and six thousand to 
the pound of reeled silk. A singular fact connected 
with them is this. The cross between the Chinese 
and the American, produce cocoons of a pale straw 
color, and others of a dark orange, both of a beau- 
tiful lustre. Bat the eggs of one color is as likely 
to produce cocoons of the other variety as its own, 
so that no dependence can be placed upon securing 
either color, by preserving cocoons of the desired 
hue for seed. The silk reeled is particularly fine 
and valuable, and of an even, delicate thread. That 
which is reeled before the worms are stifled, has the 
best lustre, Those which cannot be reeled in season 
for this purpose, are stifled by steam. Thatched 
houses, erected at. a small expense, with mat hurdles, 
are found to be all that is necessary to preserve 
the worms healthy, while the tops of broom corn 
answer every purpose for them to form their cocoons 
upon ; thus saving much expense for machinery and 
lumber, which is used in colder climates. The pro- 
prietor has land sufficient to feed millions monthly, 
but at present he can accommodate but from three 
to five hundred thousand at a time. When his 
present arrangements are completed, he will have a 
constant succession of heavy crops ; eggs hatching, 
and worms winding up, the same day, and thus be 
able to keep his reelers in constant practice. During 
the months of January, February, and March, but 
little feeding will be done. The trees then undergo 
a kind of winter. This time, however, is made 
profitable on the plantation in other ways. 

This business requires great care and perseverance, 



168 STLK PLANTATION. 

and constant attention, night and day. Yet it is of 
a simple nature, and the requisite experience is easily 
acquired. The greatest economy must be used, 
especially in avoiding waste of material in reeling. 
Mr. Titcomb entered upon the business a few years 
since, an entire stranger to its details, but has now 
acquired sufficient information and experience to 
conduct an extensive plantation, simply by strict 
attention to his business, and by letting no fact, 
however apparently trivial and unimportant, in re- 
gard to the trees or worms, escape him. 

His reelers were instructed by himself; he first 
learning to reel from instructions gathered from a 
book. They now, for fineness of work, can success- 
fully compete with foreign reelers; and the best of 
them will turn out, when watched, nearly a pound 
each per day. When left to themselves they are 
not so active, yet still average a very respectable 
quantity. Both those who turn the wheels and 
those who attend the pans are instructed, and made 
responsible for the goodness of the silk; a much 
better plan, and more likely to produce a good arti- 
cle, than when the wheel, for the sake of economy, 
is left to a boy. The men are found to reel equally 
as well as the women. Before they are instructed 
they are bound to remain in the employ of the pro- 
prietor two years, receiving regular wages during 
that time. His Majesty, during a visit to this place, 
professed himself much interested in the success of 
this business ; and twice, in public addresses to his 
officers, charged them to see that no obstacle was 
thrown into the way of Mr. Titcomb, as had hereto- 



A CHRONOLOGICAL WOOD PILE. 169 

fore been done; and that, as it was necessary for 
work to be done on the Sabbath, in feeding worms, 
the judges must not trouble those who were so em- 
ployed ; he also advised his people to seek employ- 
ment in this business, and by way of setting exam- 
ple, turned a reel himself for a short time. Since 
that period, the desire of the natives to work on the 
plantation is great, and Mr. Titcomb already gives 
employment to fifty people of both sexes, which 
number will be increased as his operations are en- 
larged. The good effects of this industry is already 
obvious, in the better appearance of the natives. A 
short time since, scarcely any could boast of cloth- 
ing: now there are few but have some, and many 
dress very respectably. 

An intelligent Frenchman has more recently estab- 
lished a sugar plantation at this place. The sugar 
manufactured is of excellent quality. Along the beach 
are the remains of an enormous pile of fire-wood, 
gathered by the strength of the whole island, in the 
days of despotic taxation. It now serves as a kind 
of calendar to the juvenile inhabitants, to calculate 
their ages by ; dating from the time of its gathering. 
It is difficult to ascertain the age of a common na- 
tive. The only judgment he can form about it, is, 
that he was so large when such a building was 
erected, or such a chief died. 



15 



• CHAPTER V. 

Island of Maui. — Its Capital. — Seat of Government. — Palace. — 
His Majesty, Kamehameha III. — His Spouse. — Products of 
Maui. — ' House of the Sun.' — Female Seminary at Wailuku. — 
High School at Lahainaluna. — Native Historical Society. — Re- 
flective and Perceptive Powers of the Hawaiians. — Influence of 
the American Missionaries over the Common People. — Discre- 
pant Statements of Travellers. — Causes of. — State of Religion, 
as compared with the United States. — Statistics. — Actual Con- 
dition. — Death Scenes. — Comparison of the Relative Influence 
of Spanish Padres and American Missionaries, over their Con- 
verts. — Different Phases of National Character. — Admitting to 
the Church. — Moral Sentiments. — Actual Recognition of. — 
Truth and Falsehood. — Criminal Statistics. — Style of Living 
among American Missionaries. — Their Houses, Cost, &c. — 
Their Advantages and Disadvantages. — Enemies and Friends. — 
Objectionable Biography. — Privations of the Earlier Missiona- 
ries. — Qualifications for a Missionary. — Examples. — Their 
Hospitalities. — Labors for the Literary and Commercial World. 
— Faults. — Hostility to Roman Catholics. — Extent. — Anec- 
dotes. — Discontinuing Connection with the American Board.— 
Independent Missionaries. — Tendency of the Present Times. — 
111 Health of Females. — Causes and Remedy. 

Maui, which, next to Oahu, is the second island 
in commercial importance, has a superficial area of 
six hundred and twenty miles. Its shape is singular, 
resembling the head and bust of a human figure; 
the outline of the face being quite accurately defined. 
Lahaina is the capital of the island and the kingdom, 
having been selected by the present monarch for his 
seat of government For whalemen it is a most 



SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 171 

desirable haven; and on account of the goodness of 
the anchorage, abundance and cheapness of supplies, 
and good order ashore, it is more frequented by 
American shipping than any other island port in the 
Pacific. From thirty to sixty whale ships annually 
touch here. On the Sabbath their crews have the 
privilege of attending divine worship. A tolerable 
reading-room is also at their disposal. 

His Majesty, it is said, selected this town for his 
residence, that he might be more apart from the 
influence of foreigners, and more among his own 
chiefs: a laudable motive, the good effects of which 
have already been made apparent, in a more whole- 
some legislation, and the shaking off of a certain 
degree of familiar intercourse, forced upon him by 
demoralized whites. Lahaina contains a popula- 
tion of three thousand. Its situation is bad, being 
at the foot of a lofty range of dusty and barren hills, 
which pour down upon the town clouds of fine red 
dust, which colors and penetrates every thing. How- 
ever, the sources of water are abundant, and the 
redness of the mud-built houses and dusty streets is 
greatly relieved by numerous taro patches and little 
gardens, interspersed through the town. A noble 
grove of cocoa-nut trees lines the beach. A fort 
similar to that of Honolulu faces the harbor, and 
also commands the town. The church is one of the 
earliest as well as best buildings erected for divine 
worship in the group. The chiefs generally have 
very comfortable and well-furnished houses. The 
palace of the king is a large two story stone build- 
ing, with a piazza running completely round it. 



172 KAMEHAMEHA III. 

When completed according to the original plan, it 
will be a handsome edifice. The rooms are large, 
though yet unfurnished. Portraits of Liholiho and 
Kamamalu, taken in England, and of Marshall 
Blutcher, and Frederick William, of Prussia, present- 
ed by that sovereign, adorn the walls. But King Kaui- 
keouli seldom makes use of this building, except for 
state purposes ; such as the assembling of his coun- 
cil, parliament, reception of foreign officers, &c. He 
prefers to sleep in a small but neatly thatched house, 
retired from the street. He usually lives in very 
good style ; sentinels are stationed about the grounds 
and yards, and yearly more etiquette is exacted, both 
from foreigners and his own subjects. Some of his 
favorite young chiefs are always in attendance ; they 
are well dressed, gentlemanly men. John Young and 
Haalilio, his intimates, are of fine figures. He lives 
well ; his table being served by foreign cooks as well 
as native. Of late, he has given up the use of both 
wines and liquors, and become a perfectly temperate 
man ; an example which has been followed by 
nearly all his court, which is now as remarkable for 
its sobriety as it once was for its drunken banquet- 
ings. This is the more to the credit of his Majesty, 
for his taste for strong drink, into which he was 
seduced when a mere boy by vicious whites, is 
tantamount to a passion. In boxing, bowling, bil- 
liard-playing, horsemanship, and other manly exer- 
cises, he is an adept; though greater attention to the 
duties of his situation than formerly prevents him 
from the frequent indulgence that was his wont, 
when in the heyday of youthful dissipation. He is 



KAMEHAMEHA III. 173 

now twenty-seven years of age, and is becoming, 
like all his race, portly ; his complexion is dark, and 
face full, but intelligent, without the expression of 
savage hauteur and determination, which character- 
izes many other chiefs. He is amiable to a fault, 
but unfortunately possesses neither the firmness nor 
knowledge to contend successfully with the wiles 
and violence of unprincipled foreign officials. Still, 
his acquaintance with the history of the world, and 
its general condition, is very respectable; and his 
improvement has been rapid. To his subjects, he is 
a kind and patriotic sovereign, and is much beloved. 
To foreigners, he is hospitable, and disposed to be 
confiding. He is a good man, without being a 
remarkable one; and wise, without being great. 
Entirely adequate to the management of the domes- 
tic relations of his kingdom, but failing in dignity 
and self-possession, when subjected to the lawless 
attacks of foreign war-ships. He can converse in 
English fluently, though reluctant to do so. By 
foreigners he is familiarly addressed as ' king.' Of 
a vessel, he is passionately fond ; and a few years 
since, his navy was quite respectable, consisting of 
a fine bark of fourteen guns, a brig, and several 
schooners. He possesses now but a few small 
schooners, the brig being wrecked, and the bark 
proving too expensive for his exhausted treasury. 
His observation is keen, and memory retentive. 
When but a young lad, he visited the Potomac frigate, 
Commodore Downes, then lying off Honolulu. Sev- 
en years later, in 1839, he went on board the Colum- 
bia frigate, Commodore Reed. While walking be- 
15* 



174 PRODUCTS OF MAUI. 

tween decks, he observed, ' this vessel has greater 
height here than the Potomac' ' How much do 
they differ? ' asked his companion. Upon reflecting 
a moment, he replied, 'two inches,' which was the 
exact difference. 

His Majesty is married to a woman of minor rank, 
Koloma by name. She also rejoices in the eupho- 
nious appellation of Hazelelponi, a scriptural name, 
selected by herself, at her baptism. Her children, if 
they had lived, would not have enjoyed a higher 
rank than her own, as the blood of the mother always 
determines the degree of the offspring. The court 
still maintains its reputation for the size and weight 
of its individual members. Two exceed three hun- 
dred pounds each. Paid is six feet six inches tall, 
well formed, and of Herculean strength and propor- 
tions. Hoapiliwahine, a female chief recently de- 
ceased, was nearly his equal in height and general 
bulk. 

The agricultural products of Maui are already 
considerable. Several sugar mills, two of them iron, 
are in operation at Wailuku, turning out from one 
to two hundred tons of sugar and molasses yearly. 
The best of these mills is owned by the king, and 
leased upon shares, to some Chinese, who manufac- 
ture excellent loaf sugar, and the best of syrup. The 
natives here own many small plantations, and find 
a ready market for all their products, during the ship- 
ping seasons at Lahaina. Maui possesses much 
elevated table-land, suitable for the productions of 
the temperate zone. Wheat grows wild and in 
abundance ; and nowhere can Irish potatoes be 



FEMALE SEMINARY. 175 

raised cheaper, and of better quality. The highest 
land in Maui is Mauna Haleakala, ' house of the sun, 1 
a gigantic terminal crater, rising from the cenfte of 
East Maui. The ascent to its summit, ten thousand 
feet above the sea, is gradual and easy. During the 
winter, considerable snow falls on and about it. 

There exists at Wailuku a female Boarding School 
or Seminary, under the charge of a mission family, 
and native assistants. It is a most excellent institu- 
tion. The school-rooms are in a stone building, two 
stories high, fifty-six feet long by twenty-four broad ; 
erected at a cost of two thousand dollars. The pupils 
are lodged in a row of small adobie buildings, each 
constituting but one apartment. The pupils are 
secluded as much as possible, from the corrupting 
influences of the neighboring inhabitants, and framed 
to a civilized life. They are taught all the common 
branches of education, embracing history and vocal 
music, and are also studiously initiated into the several 
departments of domestic industry; such as braiding, 
sewing, washing, ironing, knitting, spinning cotton, 
&c. Their clothing is a uniform of blue and white 
cotton. The chief object of the school is to train a 
class of females, who shall make suitable wives for 
the graduates of the High School, who too often, by 
marrying their ignorant and vicious country-women, 
have relapsed into their former barbarous habits. 
Thus far, this institution has proved eminently suc- 
cessful, and through its instrumentality a new order 
of the daughters of Hawaii is growing up. The 
annual expense incurred for the support of each pupil, 
is about twenty dollars. 



176 HIGH SCHOOL AT LAHAINALUNA. 

The High School, for boys, is situated at Lahain- 
aluna, a village two miles back of Lahaina, at an 
elevation of one thousand feet above the sea. It is 
a healthy, though warm and barren spot, not furnish- 
ing sufficient food even for the scholars. From the 
buildings, an extensive view of the town and ship- 
ping of Lahaina, and the islands of Lanai and 
Molokai is obtained. The school first went into 
operation in 1831, under the charge of the Rev. 
Lorrin Andrews. In 1837, a large stone two story 
edifice was erected, consisting of a central building, 
forty feet square, two and a half stories high, and 
surmounted by a cupola. The lower story affords 
two school rooms, the second a chapel, and the third, 
forty feet by eighteen, an apartment for the library, 
museum, and philosophical apparatus. A wing, 
fifty feet by twenty-six, extends from each side of 
the main building. Attached to the establishment, 
and within the enclosed grounds, are a dining-hall, 
cook-house, store-house, and from thirty to forty small 
thatched buildings, neatly furnished, — the sleeping 
apartments and rooms of the pupils. The whole 
erected at an expense of about fourteen thousand 
dollars, by the American mission. The government 
affords important aid to the institution, by gifts of 
land for the support of the pupils, and otherwise 
takes a deep interest in its success. A printing office 
is connected with it, and four good dwelling-houses 
have been erected, for the accommodation of the 
teachers, who receive their support from the Ameri- 
can Board. The number of pupils varies from fifty 
to one hundred ; their course of instruction is for 



# 



HIGH SCHOOL AT LAHAINALUNA. 177 

four years; a portion of their time they are required 
to spend in manual labor, in order to raise something 
for their own subsistence, and to form habits of sys- 
tematic industry ; also to acquire a knowledge of 
agricultural and mechanical implements. Some, in 
consequence, have become very good artisans, and 
earn high wages, much to the chagrin of foreign 
workmen. The food of the scholars is chiefly fish 
and poi, with meat occasionally, eaten at tables, 
where they are furnished with bowls, spoons, knives, 
&c. They are required to be neatly and uniformly 
clothed. The expense of each pupil, including 
books and stationery, is about the same as at the 
Female Seminary at Wailuku. In addition to the 
elementary branches, they study Scripture, geogra- 
phy, history, and chronology; also, church history, 
elements of geometry, astronomy, trigonometry, al- 
gebra, mensuration, surveying, navigation, anatomy, 
&c. For mathematical studies they manifest con- 
siderable aptness ; and in all departments, their 
memories are very tenacious, and their progress good. 
Weekly exercises in composition are required, and 
English is taught to some extent. To test their capac- 
ities, the dead languages were tried, and they soon 
acquired some degree of proficiency in them. This 
institution has already supplied abundance of teach- 
ers, well qualified for the common schools ; and it is 
designed eventually to educate the most promising 
youth to form a native clergy, and as far as possible 
to give them a knowledge of medicine, sufficient to 
counteract the quackery of their own empirics. Many 
young men who have been educated here, have 



178 NATIVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

already attained important and responsible posts 
under government, solely from their acquirements, 
for their birth was against them. In every point of 
view, has the nation experienced much benefit from 
the system of education here pursued. 

Some of the most intelligent of the graduates 
have formed a historical society, for the preservation 
of all facts, meles, traditions, and other matter, both 
ancient and modern, connected with the history of 
their native land. At several of their meetings, a 
number of interesting, and to the student of Poly- 
nesian archaeology, valuable communications have 
been read ; one embraced the history of Umi, a king 
of Maui, who reigned nearly two centuries since. 
The Rev. Shelden Dibble is now engaged in putting 
to press, at Lahainaluna, a history of the group, 
gathered chiefly from original sources among the 
inhabitants, which will be both curious and valuable, 
as giving their views of affairs, both previously and 
subsequently to the visit of Cook. It is not often 
that the lion sculptures himself. 

Although the Hawaiians manifest fair reasoning 
powers, yet, like all the branches of the Malay family, 
their perceptive and imitative are much more prom- 
inent. Hence, their ready acquirement of the me- 
chanical arts, their fondness for mathematics, and 
the study of facts, without reference to abstract inves- 
tigation. Their proficiency in copper engraving at 
the High School is really remarkable. Good maps, 
charts, and pictures are engraved every year, and 
with a considerable degree of improvement upon 
the last. 



STATEMENTS OF TRAVELLERS. 179 

The influence which has been acquired by the 
American missionaries over the whole people, has 
by some been made a subject of complaint; such 
people desire the seed to be planted and the tree to 
grow, but would prevent its branches from leaning 
towards the source of its life and light. The mis- 
sionaries do possess a great and important hold in 
the hearts of the people, and control to a great extent 
the public mind. But it has been honestly and 
openly acquired ; it is what they were sent for. If 
any one doubts the love and reverence with which 
these men are viewed, by the great majority of the 
inhabitants, let him visit their households, and join 
with the missionary in his pastoral labors and excur- 
sions. Smiling faces and genuine hospitality will 
everywhere greet him ; but more particularly within 
the range of their parochial districts, where years of 
faithful and disinterested service have endeared the 
populace to them. The kind greeting extended to 
the missionary, is as freely extended to the mission- 
ary's friend. Often in my wanderings have I had 
plentiful reason to be thankful, that the missionary 
had preceded me; for it is but simple justice to 
acknowledge, that the hospitality I enjoyed, was 
more owing to respect for him, than from a welcome 
vouchsafed to a stranger, or a desire for gain. To 
be known as a friend's friend, is a passport to the 
good graces of a Hawaiian, whether a convert to 
Christianity or a worshipper of the flesh. With both 
the reception will be cordial, but dissimilar. The 
different auspices under which the traveller visits the 
cottages of the wayside, will, when compared, faith- 



180 STATEMENTS OF TRAVELLERS. 

fully account for the many discordant statements 
which have been given so often to the world. The 
quarrels of these authors, and those who uphold their 
respective views, remind one of the famous contest 
between two knights, who coming by opposite roads, 
met each other face to face, under a metallic shield. 
The one looking at the side towards himself, ex- 
claimed, ' What a beautiful shield, and how rich the 
gold is.' ' Gold,' replied the other, ' it is silver.' 
' Silver, indeed ; I say it is gold,' was the rejoinder ; 
from angry words they soon came to blows ; and in 
a short time, so furious was their combat, they both 
lay wounded and fainting upon the road. A com- 
passionate monk happening by, bound up their 
wounds ; as soon as they were able to speak, they 
mutually appealed to him to confirm the truth of 
their respective assertions. ' Friends,' said he, ' you 
both are right and both wrong ; had you looked on 
each side of the shield, you would have seen that 
one was silver and the other gold.' Much the same 
has it been with writers in regard to this part of the 
world. On either position there is some favorite 
theory to support. It is published, and correctly 
enough, as far as it. goes, that things and people 
were after this manner, or that. They limit their 
vision while they generalize their deductions. The 
other side of the shield remains unexamined, and 
they content themselves with reiterating their state- 
ments, or contradicting those whose views differ 
from their own. In consequence of their partial 
investigations, a war of w T ords has been engendered, 
and missionary and resident are mutually accused 



MISSIONARIES. 181 

of exaggeration. I shall offer no apology for the 
remarks I am about to introduce, upon the subject 
of missionary labor, and its effect upon the people. 
On no other topic, since my return, have I been so 
frequently and critically questioned. Much that is 
partisan has already been given to the public ; and 
that it is partisan is the occasion of the great mixture 
of truth and error which prevails, on these points. 
It is natural and proper that a deep interest should 
be felt, in so important a cause. The mission enter- 
prise is one of the most prominent and noblest fea- 
tures of the nineteenth century. The attention of 
the learned and powerful, as well as the mass of the 
christian community, is strongly attracted towards it. 
Whether it is for good or evil ; whether its present 
system can be improved or not ; whether the laborers 
are faithful or faulty; whether there are adequate 
returns for the sacrifice of life, of health, and domestic 
ties, and expenditure of treasure ; all of these are 
fair subjects of investigation. The sincere friend of 
the cause wishes a faithful exposition of the truth, 
conscious that its real success will be parallel with 
the enlightenment of the public mind. I have no sect 
to sustain, or sectarian views to gratify. My sincere 
desire is to state facts and present views, "which are 
valuable only so far as they can be sustained by the 
former. In my history of these islands, I traced the 
operation of the religious revolution which attended 
the introduction of Christianity upon their civil and 
political institutions ; its silent or active workings in 
regenerating the nation ; now I have to do with its 
action and consequences, by their family altars, their 
16 



182 STATE OF RELIGION. 

social gatherings, the manners of the cottage, and 
the habits of the day ; with the people, as they achinUjj 
exist in 1S43. Much that has been related in the 
previous chapters is intended to picture the condition 
of civilization and Christianity as it now is, among 
them, and the reader will not fail frequently to draw 
his own deductions. 

The query has been put to me, ' How does the 
State of religion among Hawaiians compare with 
our own.' In one sense the question can be answer- 
ed most favorably. Numerically, church members 
bear a larger proportion throughout Hawaii to non- 
communicants, than in the United States; a greater 
outward attention is exhibited towards the observ- 
ance of its ceremonies than here ; but it would be 
as incorrect, from these facts, to place their moral 
and religious standard upon a level with that of 
the American people, as from the number of com- 
mon schools, the pupils that attend them, and the 
studies nominally pursued among the same people, to 
estimate their elementary knowledge, and their sys- 
tem of education as highly as our own. Yet statistics 
by themselves would give that result, were the actual 
conditions and physiological differences between the 
two races kept from view. What were the Hawaii- 
ans originally, and what were the ancestors of the An- 
glo-Saxons ? The one a branch of the Malay family 
of the human race, the third in point of intelligence ; 
their chief characteristics a love of maritime adven- 
ture, with a brutal courage which looked upon death 
with an icy apathy, because they had but little to en- 
joy below, and less to hope for in the future ; sensual 



STATE OF RELIGION. 183 

beyond description ; lying and treacherous to friend 
and foe; a warm, excitable imagination, and docile 
to instruction; by turns a child or adult in pleasures 
and passions — weeping the one moment, the other 
revelling wilh boisterous mirth ; in short, a creature 
of base sentiments, more like a man who, under the 
influence of intoxicating gas, acts out that which 
is uppermost in his nature, lhan a human being 
endowed with moral feelings. Added to this, a 
superstition skilfully concocted and strongly sus- 
tained by the few for the degradation and subser- 
vience of the many. Our forefathers, off- shoots of 
the noblest race, the Caucasian ; cruel heathens, 
but bold, free, and intelligent; sacrificing human 
victims in obedience to their priests, but, in domestic 
relations, chaste and affectionate. If their animal 
passions were strong and conspicuous, their virtues 
also shone out brightly, and they proved themselves 
a thinking race. Christianity introduced into soils 
so widely different, must, humanly speaking, flourish 
in accordance with the relative fitness of either for 
its support and increase. And it has been so. In 
England and America, rooting itself in the superior 
sentiments and intelligence of the people, it now 
exhibits itself in its fairest and purest light ; trans- 
ported to the Hawaiian islands by Anglo-Saxon 
minds, it is there sustained by the strength it brought 
with it. There the institutions, plans, and improve- 
ments are all borrowed from their instructors ; by 
them and their ancestors they were originated and 
perfected. The Anglo-Saxon race are capable of 
teaching ; the Malay of being taught ; the one by 



184 STATE OF RELIGION. 

its own native energies can conquer and rule the 
world ; the very existence and advancement of the 
latter is dependent upon the forbearance and benev- 
olence of the former. Such are the natural differ- 
ences between the two, and these must be borne 
in mind, if a just opinion of the capacity of the 
Hawaiians for civilization and Christianity is to be 
formed. They should be judged by the standard 
applicable to their position in the human family, and 
not by our own. 

There is one point which cannot be estimated by 
finite intelligence. Omnipotence alone can count 
the souls that have here soared from their beds of 
disease and death to a blissful hereafter. The words 
of life dropped in season and out of season, their 
final consequences none can tell. The poor, untu- 
tored heathen, whose mind would fail to grasp the 
boundless glories which eternity is ready to open to 
his view, would find no difficulty in turning from an 
idol of sense, the image of despairing cruelty, to 
' Our Father who art in Heaven ; ' the God whose 
chiefest attribute is love. The death-bed scenes of 
a Kaahumanu, a Kapiolani, and a Kinau, were such 
as to have confirmed the faith and brightened the 
experience of the most intellectual of other lands ; 
and who shall tell how many of humbler origin have 
gone to their last account, un honored and unknown 
on earth, but registered as high in heaven. Only on 
that day that discloses all secrets will they be revealed. 

There are few persons of any class at these 
islands but now appreciate, in their full force, the 
causes of the discrepant statements before alluded 



STATE OF RELIGION. 185 

to, though, unfortunately, they are not always ready 
to acknowledge them. The influence acquired by 
the padres in Spanish American countries over their 
Indian neophytes, with their hospitality, have been 
much praised by travellers. But that which is exer- 
cised by the American missionaries here, seems to 
me to be of a superior order. The Indians bow 
submissively to the authority of the church ; the 
Hawaiian s yield voluntary homage to a friend ; the 
one submits to arbitrary requirements, as from a 
power from which he can appeal no more than from 
Heaven itself; the other in his deeds of kindness 
exercises his own judgment and inclination. Often 
have I journeyed with our missionaries, and wherever 
we went, the regard manifested for them personally, 
and the high respect paid to their holy offices, un- 
claimed and unsought on their part, have been to 
me the strongest testimonials of a favorable public 
sentiment towards them. Houses were cleaned and 
put in their tidiest array, the best mats and tapas 
brought out for their beds, and the choicest produc- 
tions of their little plantations reserved for their 
meals, and all this done without expectation of rec- 
ompense. From the good will and activity mani- 
fested, it would be unfair to judge it. otherwise than 
the result of genuine affection. Church-members, 
of course, take the lead in doing honor to their 
teachers, but an outward decorum prevails even 
among the lowest orders. Crowds assemble for a 
meeting for prayer, or the expounding of the gospel. 
To a casual observer, the impression would be con- 
veyed, that he was among a highly moral and 
16* 



186 



STATE OF RELIGION, 



religious community. For the time being, it is so. 
With some this deportment is sincere and perma- 
nent, but with the mass it is different; and it is no 
disparagement to the labors of the missionary to 
state, that a vast deal of hypocrisy exists among the 
people. Let the visitor go over the same road again, 
but under different circumstances. If he is desirous 
of witnessing the varied phases of their national 
character, let it be known that he is no missionary — 
for all strangers are divided into two classes, ' mis- 
sionary, and no missionary ; ' the one being sup- 
posed to be favorable to the former, the other hostile. 
The disguise will then be stripped from off many 
who were on the previous occasion playing the mis- 
sionary. Indeed, the lower orders have a phrase in 
respect to their external decorum and inward desires, 
which has become proverbial, and which will not 
bear repeating, but is singularly expressive of their 
actual feelings. It will be perceived that virtue is 
more valued for its good name than as a reality ; 
that the dispositions of the mass are still sensual, 
and that much of the orderly and decorous conduct 
exhibited before, was the result of a temporary re- 
straint, and a desire to possess the good will of their 
superiors. The terrors of the law are also much in 
dread. The temptation to enter the church is equally 
great. All the chief rulers are professedly christians ; 
the high places are filled by such; it is one step 
towards preferment ; to the native it has the value of 
a caste ; it fixes him in the eyes of his fellows ; con- 
sequently there is no self-denial an interested indi- 
vidual will not temporarily subject himself to, to 



STATE OF RELIGION. 187 

attain the object of his ambition. I have known 
one, who having failed by all the customary arts, in 
convincing his pastor of his fitness to join in the 
communion, devise a most ingenious story to ac- 
complish his purpose. He went to the missionary 
to confess a crime which he had meditated, the rec- 
ollection of which hung heavily upon him. He 
said that some time before he had determined to 
murder him, and had actually approached his house 
by night with a cutlass, and had been deterred only 
by an unexpected interruption, whrfch caused him to 
retreat. The story as he related it, with all the 
attending circumstances, was so exceedingly plau- 
sible, and his manner so sincere and contrite, that 
for a while the missionary was staggered. But the 
falsehood was soon discovered, and he did not come 
again. Some missionaries rival the Roman Catho- 
lic priesthood in their zeal for adding to their church, 
baptizing by hundreds, and even by" thousands. 
There is but little doubt that, although a majority 
of the admitted natives do not conform strictly to 
their vows, yet in consequence of them they are a 
better people. They furnish a restraint which noth- 
ing else could supply. The conduct which would 
bring censure upon an American christian, should 
not upon a Hawaiian ; their temperaments, knowl- 
edge, and circumstances are widely different, and 
they are not to be balanced in the same scale. Of 
him to whom much is given, much will be required. 
Other missionaries go to the other extreme, and 
maintain so severe a discipline that it is seldom a 
candidate is found qualified in their view. I am 



188 STATE OF RELIGION. 

acquainted with one who, in the course of six years' 
preaching has admitted but a single individual into 
the church. His sense of the duties of a Christian 
is exceedingly rigid ; but he lives in daily exemplifi- 
cation of it, and perhaps approaches as near to the 
purity, holiness, zeal, and meekness of the apostles, 
as man is capable of. 

A moral sentiment, founded more upon a classifi- 
cation of certain actions either as evil or as good, 
and their attendant punishments or rewards, than 
upon any definite ideas of sin and virtue considered 
in their relations to moral purity, and the love of the 
Father, pervades the nation. With the more en- 
lightened, a superior sentiment prevails to some 
degree. Consequently, as in older christianized 
communities, a man enjoys respect in proportion to 
his moral qualifications. Many, of course, are to be 
found more fond of a good name, than of the means 
necessary for its attainment. Publicly they are one 
being, privately another. The very fact of the ne- 
cessity of the deception, shows a great advancement 
in moral sentiment since the days of Liholiho, and 
instead of being considered a reproach to the mis- 
sionaries, should be hailed as a favorable symptom 
of their labors ; the dawn of further improvement. 
In humanity, care for the sick and aged, their do- 
mestic relations, honesty, temperance, industry, and 
politeness, there has been great advancement. From 
a warlike, treacherous, and cruel people, they have 
become mild, tractable, and desirous of knowledge. 
The intelligent observer will find much in their pres- 
ent character to gratify him, and more to surprise, 



STATE OF RELIGION. 189 

when he contrasts them with what they were but 
a score of years since. But he who goes among 
them, his imagination picturing a nation changed 
from brutal savages, by the Spirit of God, to guile- 
less christians, worshipping Jehovah in all the inno- 
cency and strength of a first love, their family altars 
emblems of purity and happiness, their congrega- 
tions simple and sincere, and their dispositions and 
deportment refined to the high standard of christian 
excellence in our own beloved country, will be dis- 
appointed. Yet there are writers who would fain 
make the world believe that it is nearly so. None 
have been more pained and surprised than the mis- 
sionaries themselves, at the high-wrought sketches 
which have gone forth, an injury to their cause and 
themselves. 

It is still difficult to make the natives understand 
the nature of truth. They have been so accustomed, 
from their earliest years, to habits of deception, that 
with very many, perhaps the majority, it may be 
doubted whether any other sensation arises from the 
detection of a falsehood than mortification at being 
discovered. In no other point are they more obtuse, 
but this moral bluntness is gradually wearing away. 
Licentiousness is the chief vice of the nation ; not 
that they are much worse in this respect than nations 
generally residing within the tropics, but it con- 
tinues to be their most prominent trait. A few years 
ago, in its Protean forms, it was common to all, and 
as undisguised as the light of day. Now it hides 
its head, and seeks a new garment to conceal its foul 
markings. The following table of crime for Oahu, 
will serve to show the proportion of other offences 



190 STATISTICS. 

to those of sensuality. It is taken from the Kumu 
Hawaii, of January 16, 1839, a native paper, but the 
period embraced in the report is not given. And it 
should be recollected that but a small proportion of 
tho latter offences are ever detected or exposed. A 
number of foreigners are embraced in the list, chiefly 
for riot, mutiny, and desertion. 

Offences, 



Manslaughter, 


4 


Seduction, 


18 


Theft, 


48 


Lewdness, 


81 


Riot, 


32 


Adultery, 


246 


False witness, 


48 







Desertion, 


30 




345 


Mutiny, 


15 







177 

The fact appears incontrovertible that there yet 
exists in the nation a large body of people who are 
equally disposed to religious riles, or to acts of a 
different character, as may be most accordant to the 
taste of those whom they wish to gratify. Another 
generation must arise, with better homes and more 
civil and religious advantages, before the habits of 
the old are sufficiently undermined. While evidence 
for the most favorable view of missionary labor, to 
a partial investigator appears conclusive, ample 
grounds for the opposite opinion exist. The truth 
lies in neither extreme. The friends of humanity 
have just cause to be grateful that so much has been 
accomplished, and should labor in earnestness that 
the remaining dark spots may be washed white. 

Something now remains to be said of the mission- 



MISSIONARY LIFE. 191 

aries themselves. The reader will bear in mind that 
my remarks are confined exclusively to those of the 
Hawaiian islands ; whether they may be applicable 
to those on other stations, I have had no opportunity 
personally to know. And first, how do they live ? In 
good, comfortable, and capacious houses of wood, 
adobie, or stone ; generally of two stories, and pos- 
sessing all the conveniences and much resembling 
the better class of farm-houses in New England. 
With few exceptions they are the best on the islands, 
costing from one to three thousand dollars each. 
Their patrons, with a wise liberality, provide for 
their living in about the same style as country cler- 
gymen at home. Owing to the mildness of the 
climate the expenses are much less. They are pro- 
vided with plain furniture, and from four hundred to 
six or seven hundred dollars per annum is allowed to 
each family in proportion to the number of its mem- 
bers. The property of the mission, in herds and 
cattle, is now considerable, for the use of which land 
is leased from the government. They afford abun- 
dance of milk and butter ; the latter being sold in 
considerable quantities to foreign residents, the pro- 
ceeds going into the general fund. The government 
has liberally granted most of the families good tracts 
of land, suitable for small farms, and many, by cul- 
tivation are enabled to eke out a subsistence almost 
independently of the Board. By their little plantations 
they are enabled to instruct the natives in husbandry 
to some extent, and to set them an example of in- 
dustry ; also to introduce among them exotic grains, 
fruits, and vegetables. They also afford to the males 
a healthful avocation and a pleasant change from 



192 ADVANTAGES. 

their more confined duties. A New England taste 
is perceptible every where about their dwellings. 
Many are embowered in shrubbery and are sur- 
rounded with pretty gardens. In fact, to judge from 
their habitations, and the docile, mild race about 
them, looking up to their teachers with respect and 
gratitude, as to beings of a superior order, mission- 
aries here lead a pleasant life. Away, it is true, from 
the social and literary privileges of the United States, 
and away also from its inhospitable climate, its reli- 
gious and political excitements and dissensions. Here 
they are a kind of magnates in the land ; an influ- 
ence and importance is attached to their calling, 
which they would be less than man if they did not 
appreciate. Some families are much isolated ; others 
see a greater variety of society and of different 
nations, than if they had remained in their native 
land, confined, as it too often happens, within a circle 
circumscribed by sectarianism. In any case, inde- 
pendently of the pure motives which impel them to 
this work, their self-denial will not exceed that of 
their countrymen whose pursuit is wealth. With the 
former, are their wives, their children, and their 
homes. They are or should be denizens of the 
soil for life. The latter too often are without one 
friendly tie or charm, to relieve their minds, troubled 
for gain. Abiding places have they none, longer 
than the glittering ignis fatui remains in view. 
Theirs is a passion which recks but little of pain, 
privation, or disease, and fears not death, so that their 
objects be accomplished. For the one there is a 
holy sympathy, which lightens their sufferings and 



MISSIONARY LABORS. ' 193 

enhances their success ; their lives, tinged by a 
romance, from the comparative novelty of their dis- 
interested labors, and the fewness of the subjects, are 
upon an eminence ; they are seen and known of men ; 
conspicuous guides pointing onward and upward to 
the abiding place of man's highest destiny. Out- 
wardly the labors of the others are selfish ; competi- 
tion spreads her net about them, and deadens the 
feeling of man for his brother man ; in one continu- 
ous stream, as a river pours forward to an ocean, 
over shoals or cataracts, circling and eddying by 
sunken rocks, dashing furiously, rapid upon rapid, 
through some gorge, or peacefully gliding in a broad 
and limpid stream, so men press on in their race for 
wealth. And yet in that throng, toiling and patient, 
enduring much, yet working on until perhaps life, at- 
tenuated to a thread, snaps asunder and consigns the 
young in years, but old and worn in body, to dust 
again, are many priceless souls. They work for 
food and raiment, but not all for themselves ; a 
relative sick or maimed, a motherless infant or fa- 
therless child, God's gifts to cheer them in their 
wearisome pilgrimage, were their care. And they 
labor with a faith as bright and a reliance as true 
upon their heavenly Father, as if a world had bade 
them ' good speed.' 

I would not detract one jot from the resources of 
that love and benevolence which sustains missiona- 
ries in their labors. Rather would I increase it, and 
swell their ranks until their name is legion. But let 
it be on just grounds ; no fictitious sentiment should 
be raised in such a cause. Yet too often has it thus 
17 



194 OBJECTIONABLE BIOGRAPHY. 

been. It is doubtful whether the missionaries have 
suffered most from the bitterly hostile, who have 
dragged them before the public, and assailed them 
with foul-mouthed charges, or more poisonous insin- 
uations, and heaped upon them continued and unre- 
lenting hostility, or those ill-judged friends who have 
bespattered them with fulsome praises, or eulogies 
scarcely less injurious and disgusting. In conse- 
quence, with some, every missionary is viewed as an 
individual, who, too indolentto earn a living at home, 
goes abroad, the recipient of misplaced benevolence, 
and a bigoted agent to spread a fanatical despotism. 
Others view him in a light scarcely less exalted than 
inspiration itself, and that is expected and believed of 
him. which humanity cannot perform. There is also 
unfortunately a false curiosity abroad, which seeks to 
strip the missionary and expose his inmost thoughts. 
In many instances they have themselves pandered to 
this vitiated desire, and the reading world has been 
flooded to a nausea with works recording the thoughts, 
sentiments, speeches, feelings, and experiences of 
men, women, and even children, whose lives were all 
good and useful in their appropriate spheres, but 
whose biographies, even as prepared by admiring 
friends, are at the best but an epitome of the life of 
every man, woman, or child with moderate preten- 
sions to intelligence and religious hopes. The grave- 
yards of our land contain myriads of such, and the 
stones that record their departure tell as briefly but 
appropriately their worth. Then let them rest. Gen- 
eration upon generation of pious fathers, mothers, 
brothers and sisters succeed each other beneath the 



OBJECTIONABLE BIOGRAPHY. 195 

sod, and their simple but adamantine obituaries are 
all-sufficient to speak the tale to the living. Let that 
which is private remain so ; the memories of the 
humble departed are best enshrined in the hearts that 
loved them. Otherwise it is to be feared, that, inde- 
pendently of the exposure and display of thoughts* 
expressions, and actions, which should be as sacred 
as the grave itself, desires foreign to unpretending 
worth, will arise. The prized speech of the loved 
one (I have known such an instance) may become 
the laugh or comment of a criticising public, and 
ideas of present notoriety or posthumous fame be 
mingled with pious aspirations. Truth is benefited 
by the temperate discussion of general principles, or 
a critical examination of measures and results ; but 
a frivolous curiosity alone is recompensed by the 
perusal of much of modern biography. 

In justice to the missionaries it should be remark- 
ed that the comforts by which they are surrounded 
are mainly the result of their individual exertions. 
The privations of the first comers, particularly the 
ladies, for a number of years, were many. Their 
residences were the common straw huts of the coun- 
try ; damp and cold in the winter season, hot and 
accessible to dust and winds during the summer ; at 
all times unhealthy and trying to a northern consti- 
tution. Much suffering and disease can be traced 
to these habitations. The first band, by some strange 
neglect, were landed without a provision of the 
commonest cooking utensils ; women, accustomed to 
all the paraphernalia of a yankee kitchen, were sud- 
denly reduced to little better than the calabash and 






196 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR A MISSIONARY. 



wooden bowl, the taro and pork of the savage. 
Their supplies from the United States for a long time 
were poor and inefficient, and to their labors of char- 
ity was added the absolute necessity of providing the 
ways and means for the sustenance of their families. 
At that time, also, if their lives were not actually en- 
dangered, their fears were constantly excited by the 
threats and outrages of a lawless white population. 
The worst savages they encountered were among 
their own race. Their friends were few and power- 
less. But most of their number have lived to witness 
and enjoy an entire change. It is the transformation of 
a wilderness to a blooming oasis. Public sentiment 
among all classes sustains them on the scene of their 
labors. They are valued and appreciated according 
to their real worth, as men, and as christians. Their 
families are welcomed within the circle of foreign 
residents, and a community of feeling now exists, of 
the most social and refined character, greatly to the 
advantage of all. The vile charges so freely circu- 
lated against them in former years, such as of being 
intemperate, licentious, and avaricious, have died a 
natural death, or are confined to a class whose ap- 
pearance and reputation are of themselves sufficient 
expositors of their designing falsehoods. 

It has been objected to many, that they are not 
men of sufficient intellectual calibre for such a situ- 
ation. Some appear to regard it as necessary that 
all missionaries should be of great mental power, 
the master-spirits of their time. Such have ampler 
fields for their abilities or benevolence at home. 
They are best suited to operate upon a thinking, in- 



QUALIFICATIONS FOR A MISSIONARY. 197 

telligent people. But for a race of semi-barbarians, 
children in knowledge and capacity, another class of 
mind is better adapted. And it is emphatically such 
as we find among the American missionaries. Not 
that they are all equally qualified, for •several, after 
having fully tried the experiment, have both satisfied 
themselves and their friends that they had mistaken 
their pursuit, and have retired. But generally they 
are shrewd, intelligent, hard-working men, true sons 
of a republic, and possessing, in its full vigor, the 
chiefest of yankee qualifications, 'gumption.' Men 
of powerful intellects, who deal in theories, abstrac- 
tions, or generalities, calculated to lead, enlighten, or 
confound the mass, would be ill adapted for this 
people. Their teachers must be men who can pen- 
etrate to the very alphabet of civilization, and that 
practically. Teach a native how to handle a hoe, a 
broomstick, a plough, or needle, as well as to spell 
ab and ba, measure the revolution of the planets, 
and draw forth instruction from the well of living 
waters. Work and read with them, visit the cottage 
as well as the palace, please the children as well as 
the adult, administer aid to the afflicted, medicine to 
the sick, and consolation to the thirsty soul. He 
who says they are not all this, and more, does not 
know them. I have seen the same individual per- 
form skilful surgical operations, practice medicine 
extensively, plough, and direct natives in the culture 
of their farms, build the stone-walls, and raise the 
massive roof of a church, a tinker and carpenter at 
home, a music-teacher, and a school-master, an in- 
terpreter for government, a translator for foreigners 
17* 



198 EXAMPLES. THEIR HOSPITALITY. 

in drawing up deeds, in fact, an adept in every good 
and useful work, whether mental or manual. Be- 
loved by all classes, he is constantly laboring for all. 
With all this multifarious labor, he, with his spouse, 
a lady well worthy of such a husband, finds time to 
educate six children ; and a better regulated, and 
more happy family, I have never seen. As a man 
and christian, his life is above reproach. Though so 
distinguished a specimen, he is but a type of a class. 
Some are preachers, some school-teachers, some 
printers, book-binders, or secular agents ; and a bet- 
ter united, constantly laboring body, it would be 
difficult to find. Differing in opinion at times, but 
always united in purpose. Full of that zeal which 
seeks to make men happier, wiser, better. These 
remarks will, by many, be thought extravagant ; and 
perhaps not a few of those who have spent more 
years than I have in the group, will deny their cor- 
rectness. But they have not, as I have, seen them 
under all circumstances, at their homes and abroad, 
eaten of their bread, slept beneath their roofs, jour- 
neyed with them, lived with them. Gladly do I 
acknowledge the unaffected, genuine hospitality I 
have constantly met, even when I went with no other 
claim than that of a stranger. The names of the 
frank-hearted gentlemen whose society have so often 
given additional zest to the pleasures of my wander- 
ings, and their ladies, whose mild but cordial wel- 
come at once makes the traveller feel that he has 
found a home, would grace any work. The voy- 
ager's thoughts wander from his neat and well fur- 
nished room, to a mother, or wife, in his native land, 



LITERARY* AKD COMMERCIAL LABORS. 199 

and he involuntarily ejaculates, ' My country-women 
the same everywhere — God bless them/ as he con- 
trasts the snow-white counterpane, the comfortable 
mattrass, and drawn musquito-net, with the suspi- 
cious mat, the stone pillow, and the agonies of fleas 
which he endured in some wild hut the night previ- 
ous. With these families, the delight of doing good 
is a delicate thing, and the sanctity of the domestic 
circle is as highly prized as among the most fastidious 
circles of a civilized land. 

The literary and commercial world, as well as the 
religious, are under obligations to mission labor. 
The best sources of Hawaiian history, through their 
care, have been developed; and, throughout Polyne- 
sia, the most faithful and accurate reports of the past 
and present, with valuable contributions to science 
generally, are drawn from their pens. Philology 
and ethnography, in particular, have grown in inter- 
est and importance by their exertions. The name 
of the Rev. Lorrin Andrews, in connection with the 
former branch of knowledge, has already become 
well known, and he needs but a little leisure to be- 
come as thorough a scholar as he is close a student. 
Commerce has gained in proportion as civilization 
has advanced. It may be fairly estimated that the 
consumption of foreign fabrics is now at least double 
to what it would have been under their old system of 
government. 

Although the American missionaries have labored 
as successfully as any other body of men would 
have done under similar circumstances, yet there are 
errors and faults among them which deserve mention. 



200 FAULTS. 

They are such as are peculiar to sectarianism, in 
whatever form it may show itself ; from the nature 
of man unavoidable, but which, by being candidly 
pointed out, may be tempered, and prevented from 
degenerating into fanatical hatred. The most ran- 
corous contests are those which arise from polemical 
disputes. Before the Romanists had entered to any 
extent upon the same field, an illiberal spirit was too 
often exhibited towards those whose views differed 
from their own. They fell into the natural but er- 
roneous habit of greatly exaggerating their own la- 
bors, and attributing to their neighbors the evils 
under which the nation groaned. Thus, at that time, 
one of their prominent individuals asserted, that 
'commerce was digging the grave of the nation;' 
an opinion in which it is to be hoped few coincided. 
But the feeling most deadening to charity, and most 
subversive of the spirit which the Prince of Peace 
enjoined upon his followers, is the bitter enmity to 
the Roman priesthood. It is the duty of all Protes- 
tants, particularly republicans, to oppose a system 
which they believe to be destructive of the princi- 
ples of liberty and the gospel. But it is one thing 
to oppose a system, and another to think ill of a 
brother. The fault lies in education. The Ameri- 
can missionaries go forih with judgments matured 
among the opposers of Popery. From their earliest 
years they are accustomed to look upon it as a great 
evil, and firmly determine to fight against it. Once 
in the combat, their imaginations too often become 
heated, and their passions aroused. That which had 
a tangible shape, and could be shaken by well-aimed 
blows, becomes a monstrous phantom at which they 



HOSTILITY TO ROMAN CATHOLICS. 201 

strike right and left, beating as it were the very air. 
Books which favor their views only are read ; 
they write themselves into a fever of excitement. 
One would think from the perusal of some of their 
lucubrations, that they arrogated to themselves the 
monopoly of using hard names; the more foolish, 
as they mean nothing, and often excite only pity, or 
contempt. They call upon the Romanists to peruse 
their arguments, while they refuse to examine those 
hostile to their cause. In short, whatever opinion 
may be entertained of the Papists, fierce, injudicious 
zeal and illiberal conclusions are not altogether pecu- 
liar to them. In a land of many religious parties 
this feeling is diffused ; all sects, whether Protestant 
or Romanist, are more or less hostile to each other ; 
the members of all come daily in contact ; the civili- 
ties of life are interchanged; the acerbities of the 
pulpit wear off. Man sees that man, despite an ar- 
bitrary church government, or it may be a false 
creed, is still man ; a human being; with hopes and 
fears, loves and sympathies, like his own. He pro- 
scribes his opinions, but takes him by the hand, and 
all come to the conclusion, that a man may be a 
thorough Calvinist in faith, or a believer in the 
infallibility of the Pope, and yet be a good citizen, 
and a clever fellow. God be praised, that this re- 
deeming quality exists, and grows spontaneously 
among men. Without it, the earth would become 
one aceldama. At these islands the parties come 
not in contact, except under the hostile banners of 
their churches. The Protestant is loth to believe 
that men honestly can be Papists. All the corruptions, 
cruelties, and vices, which belonged to a past age, 



202 EXTENT. 

he appropriates to the present; and, while he dis- 
cards the crimes of his own sect as the result of bar- 
barous times, he affects to believe that every Roman 
priest he sees is a grand inquisitor, and every neo- 
phyte a poor deluded victim. He hears that France 
is an infidel country, Spain a land of crimes, Italy 
of licentiousness. He believes all the bad, as a mat- 
ter of conscience ; but the good, the virtuous, the no- 
ble, that are among them, are too frequently lost 
upon him. This language may appear harsh, but it 
is practically thus ; though I fear it would be diffi- 
cult to convince those, .whose sight has ever been at 
one focus, to vary it in any degree. All do not 
think alike on this point, but the general sentiment 
is the same. One of the oldest and most intelligent 
ladies of the mission said to me, that she had rather 
reside among the cannibals and licentious savages 
of the Marquesas, than in a community of Roman 
Catholics ; she actually thought herself safer among 
the former than the latter. Another was afraid to 
send her children to the United States, for fear they 
would become Papists. When such sentiments find 
room in refined and cultivated minds, can we won- 
der that there is something repulsive and terrible to 
a genuine and ignorant Roman Catholic in the name 
of ' heretic' Recrimination neither enlightens nor 
converts the world; and however it may disagree 
with my private feelings to perceive errors among 
those with whom there is so much excellence, yet I 
should fail in truth were I not to state it, as my con- 
viction, that there is too much of intemperate zeal in 
the contest now going on between the American and 
French missionaries. 



AMERICAN MISSIONARIES. 203 

Within a few years past, several individuals have 
severed their connection with the American Board, 
and have either returned to the United States, or re- 
mained at the group, supporting themselves, and 
laboring independently of any authority. Of these? 
two have entered into the service of the government ; 
the Rev. W. Richards having: been invited to fill the 
situation of counsellor and interpreter; Dr. G. P. 
Judd, that of recorder and treasurer. In their respec- 
tive offices they both have given much satisfaction? 
and have been of far more benefit to the nation, 
than if they had remained missionaries. In the in- 
fancy of his government, the king is obliged to em- 
ploy many foreigners ; many of the minor offices, 
such as port-collectors, harbor-masters, high-sheriff, 
&c, have been filled from the residents ; but the more 
responsible situations require those whose knowledge 
of their language, customs, and policy is perfect, and 
who are independent of all business relations. 
Twenty years residence by the missionaries have 
acquired for them the absolute confidence of the 
nation, and its welfare required their services in 
these new departments. To do this, they were 
obliged to discontinue their relations with the soci- 
ety from which they drew their support, for its policy 
allows of no direct interference in the affairs of gov- 
ernment. Their salaries are barely sufficient for their 
support. Others, in consequence of differences of 
opinions growing out of local affairs, or their relative 
duties to each other, have left the Board. One 
cogent motive for this dissolution is, to provide for 
their growing families. The nation also is rapidly 
advancing to that point when, by its own internal 



204 ILL HEALTH OF FEMALES. 

resources, it will be enabled to sustain its domestic 
institutions. It will require, however, the aid of for- 
eigners, who may be said to be naturalized within 
its borders. And for its real interests no better class 
can be found, than those who have been so instru- 
mental in nurturing and sustaining them in their 
progress towards civilization. Most of these men 
are now ill-adapted for any other life than that which 
they now lead, and many would sink under a change 
of climate. As the interests of the people and their 
personal necessities require it, they will gradually 
dissolve their connection with the society at home, 
and become independent workers in the field. Sup- 
ported by the people as pastors, teachers, or physi- 
cians, and by the government as agents in various 
important departments, they will lead lives of greater 
usefulness to those they are among, and enable the 
Board to extend its operations elsewhere. In pur- 
suing this policy, they and their children will become 
identified with the nation. Whether it is the best 
that can be adopted is to be determined, but circum- 
stances at the present time tend strongly towards it. 
I cannot close this chapter without referring to the 
poor health of the wives of the missionaries, and I 
trust the plainness of my remarks will be attributed 
to the honest and friendly motives which dictate 
them. The mortality among them is greatly dispro- 
portioned to that of the other sex ; three having died 
recently, and the remainder generally being feeble, or 
great invalids. The causes are obvious. They work 
too hard, and eat too little ; their minds have not a 
sufficiency of recreation, or variety of occupation, to 
preserve a healthy tone. Those isolated from the 



CAUSES AND REMEDY. 205 

society of Honolulu, and the chief ports, are the 
greatest sufferers. Erroneous opinions in regard to 
diet prevail, and temperance — or more properly 
speaking, abstinence, both in quantity and quality of 
food, from economical motives, and other causes, is 
carried to such an extent as to weaken and derange 
the system. Morbid fancies are thus created. 
Their families, also, are large, and cares arduous 
in the extreme, but were their tables as com- 
fortably provided as their houses, they would 
be far better able to sustain them. The men suffer, 
but not in the same ratio. Their duties are more 
varied, and excitements greater. A nutritious, and 
to some degree a stimulating diet, is absolutely 
necessary for the general preservation of vigor in 
northern constitutions in this climate. If proof were 
needed on this point, contrast the healthful, ruddy 
frames of the foreign lady residents, generally, who 
live well, though not luxuriously, with the slender 
figures, wan visages, and premature decay of too 
many of the ladies of the mission. It is not labor 
altogether, that produces effects so lamentable, for 
there are others who labor as hard as they. A day's 
illness is extremely rare among the lady-residents ; 
in truth, with a due regard to the wants of the body 
and mind, no more healthful climate can be named. 
That economy mistakes its own proper end, which, 
for a temporary purpose, neglects the means necessary 
to keep the wheels of human mechanism in running 
order, 

18 



CHAPTER VI. 

Embark for Hawaii. — Companions. — A Roman Catholic Priest 
and Protestant Missionary. — A Disputation. — Coast of Hawaii. 

— Port of Kailua. — Billy Pitt the Younger. — Landing. — Strife 
among Porters. — Many Call, Few are Paid. — Gov. Adams. 

— His Bulk and Character. — Palace. — Church. — ' Blue Laws ' 
revived. — Cotton Factory. — ' House of Gods.' — ' House of Au- 
dience.' — Manufacture of Idols. — Battery. — Cave of Laniakea. 

— Mullet for Supper. — Kapiolani. — Cook's Monument. — Em- 
bark for Kawaihae. — Parting Respects and Wail. — Ma una Hu- 
lalai. — Eruption from. — Roadstead of Kawaihae. — Heiau or 
Temple. — Walk to Waimea. — Fire. — Weather. — Productions of 
Waimea. — Men Procured. — Start for Mauna Kea. — Camp among 
Fleas. — Remarkable Crater. — Minerals. — Wild Cattle. — Horses 
give out. — Men also. — Reach the Summit. — Wonderful View 

— A Rocky Lodging-Place. — Descend. — Height of the Moun- 
tain. — A Snow-Balling in July. — Reach the Base of the Moun- 
tain. — A Bullock Catcher's Hut. — ( Clinkers.' — Rebellion among 
Men. — A Bed in the Rain, and a Smoky Cave. — A Cold Morn- 
ing. — Mammoth Raspberries. — Effects of a Tornado or Earth- 
quake. — Volcano of Kilauea. — A Dangerous Lodging-Place. — 
Storm and Eruption at Night. — Steam Fissures. — Sulphur Beds 
and Bath. — Extent of Crater. — Shape. — Age. — Elevation. — 
Interior. — Descent. — Black Ledge; Walk around. — Burning 
Lakes and Cones. — Gases. — Beautiful Appearance of Lava.— - 
Great Heat. — A Perilous Climb. — Dangers of Exploration. — 
Appearance of Crater at Different Times. — Volcanic Action 
throughout the Group. — Hawaii a Crust of Lava, with Fire 
beneath. — Another Mutiny. — Provisions gone. — Mauna Loa, 
the Great Mountain. — Douglas's Description of. — Its Errors 
and Inconsistencies. — Leave for Hilo. — An over-sharp Land- 
lord. — Leave in a Pet. — A Guide's Trick. — Arrival at Hilo. — 
Situation and Natural Beauties. — Its Resources, Climate, Popu- 
lation, Exports, &c. — Mission House. — Schools. — A New Jaunt. 



EMBARK FOR HAWAII. 207 

— The Late Eruption. — Immense Stream of Lava. — Its Devas- 
tations. — Burning Forests, Smoke, Fires, Gases, &c. — Appear- 
ance at the Sea. — Three Hills and New Coast formed. — Salts. 

— Steam. — An Account of its First Outbreak, and Subsequent 
History. — A Sublime Spectacle. — The Ocean and Volcano in 
Strife. — Eccentric Course of the Stream. — Effects. — Return to 
Hilo. — Primitive State of the Inhabitants. — Sunday. — A New 
Way of Preaching. — Feats in Swimming. — A Shipwreck and 
Wonderful Escape. 

In the latter part of June, 1840, intelligence of a 
terrific eruption of the great crater of Kilauea on 
Hawaii, reached Honolulu. No other particulars 
arrived than that it was of great magnitude, and de- 
stroying all living things in its course. Having been 
long desirous of visiting Hawaii, as the largest and 
most interesting island, both from historical associa- 
tions and its stupendous natural phenomena, I imme- 
diately determined to proceed to the scene of fire. 
Mr. J. P. Couthouy, a gentleman attached to the scien- 
tific corps of the United States Exploring Expedition, 
and another friend, joined me. A brig was just 
ready to sail for the leeward side of the island. Ac- 
cordingly, on the afternoon of the 23d of June, we 
repaired on board. The distance to Kailua, the first 
port at which we were to touch, is only one hundred 
and fifty miles. Ordinarily, a vessel in leaving Oahu, 
by keeping close-hauled, can reach it without tacking; 
but by approaching too near Lanai and Maui is 
liable to be becalmed, and that too on as uneasy a 
swell as ever made the bowels of a voyager yearn 
for land. Our craft was scarcely in ballast, and she 
lay for upwards of a day, rolling, pitching, twisting, 
and dodging, with all the intricacy of motion of an 



208 A DISPUTATION. 

eel on terra firma ; and for the time being, a more 
miserable set of wretches never wished they had 
stayed at home. A breeze sprung up, and with it an 
argument between a Roman Catholic priest and the 
lady of one of the American missionaries, who was 
upon the point of making a visit to the United States. 
Her station was at Kailua, and she was now on her 
way thither, to procure her children. For twenty 
years she had toiled faithfully in the cause, and a 
family had grown up about her. Her husband was 
to remain at his post, while she accompanied her 
offspring to their native land, where they were to be 
left to complete their education. She was a woman 
of great energy of character, shrewd, a violent anti- 
Catholic, and versed in all the lore of Protestantism. 
Her opponent was an Irishman, but educated in 
Paris ; with all the humor and roughness of his 
countrymen, and the logical subtilties of his profes- 
sion; the traditions, rules, and history of his church 
being at his tongue's end. With him was another 
priest, a polished and intelligent Frenchman; quiet 
and unassuming, and who, from his ignorance of 
English, took no part in the disputation. It was 
conducted good humoredly, though with zeal; the 
lady showed that she had not been a missionary for 
twenty years for nothing, and quoted torrents of 
Scripture and common sense, to oppose the assump- 
tions and declarations of the priest. But it was of 
no use ; driven from one cover, he rallied at another, 
and, as it was evident at the commencement, both 
might have argued till the last sun rose and set, and 
each been firmer than ever, in his original opinion. 



PORT OF KAILUA. 209 

The lady was earnest for truth, the Irishman loved a 
dispute for its own sake. At the conclusion, he 
jocosely observed, that the Roman Catholics would 
soon acquire the ascendancy, and then they would 
drive every Protestant missionary from the islands. 
They parted, however, better friends than before they 
had commenced. Their doctrines were unchanged, 
but each unconsciously had made a favorable impres- 
sion upon the other ; and instead of cruel zealots, 
they discovered a mutual common humanity. This 
incident would not be worth mentioning, except that 
it may incite a like feeling in others, and convince 
them that the most hostile parties need but know 
each other, if they would lessen their bitterness. 

In approaching«Hawaii, the influence of the land 
and sea breezes became perceptible. The land near 
the coast was so lofty as to hide the more elevated 
peaks of the interior. It appeared like an immense 
black wall, tipped with a green ; the base being vol- 
canic rock, and the summit skirted by a belt of dense 
forests. Approaching nearer, its inequalities became 
more perceptible ; and valley and hill were found to 
rise with a gradual swell, until they attained the 
height of five thousand feet. On the evening of the 
26th, we dropped anchor in Kailua roadstead. From 
the distance we were, the town looked prettily enough. 
In fact, it much resembled a flourishing fishing village 
at home, — that is, as far as its two story wooden 
houses, a stone church, and regular stone walls com- 
bined to form the picture ; but the rugged mountains, 
numerous little white-washed mausoleums or tombs, 
greensward reaching the sea, and cocoa-nut groves 
18* 



210 STRIFE AMONG PORTERS. 

were ill adapted to maintain the illusion. However, 
there was not a doubt the universal yankee had 
been at work here. To remark these trivial resem- 
blances, doubtless seems common-place to a stay-at- 
home body ; but he that is as restless in his course 
as the winds, with joy hails the faintest similitude 
that reminds him of mother land. Before we landed, 
Lilihoku, son and heir of the late Prime Minister, 
Kalaimoku, came off. Anglicised, his name is the 
' Shooting Star,' and his life has been quite as erratic. 
He is a fine looking young chief, somewhat rakish 
in his habits, and arbitrary in his disposition, but 
kept in tolerable subjection by his guardian, John 
Adams, otherwise Governor Kuakini, who holds the 
island for him. Lilihoku's business was to superin- 
tend the landing of a horse which had been brought 
for him. He shook hands with the priests with much 
cordiality. It is said that his desires are somewhat 
towards them, through from restraint or policy he 
has not openly avowed his preference. 

It was sunset when we landed. The beach was 
crowded with natives, to witness our debarkation. 
They rushed en masse, to volunteer their services to 
carry our luggage. Several seized at once on the 
same article. We divided them about, as we best 
could. The green ones of our party were delighted 
with this instance of disinterested kindness ; but 
upon arriving at a friend's house, where we intended 
to stop, their demands were found to be such as 
might have shaken even the imperturbable assurance 
of New- York hack-men. All wanted something, 
whether they helped or not. After paying the Simon 



GOVERNOR ADAMS. 



211 



Pures, a decided 'no,' and a 'hali pele,' a term 
about as expressive as ' go to grass,' or even a worse 
place, drove off the remainder ; their disappointment 
creating only a laugh among their friends. 

In the evening we called upon John Adams, and 
found him stretched out, a la Hawaii, on a mat divan, 
in a grass house. However, he did us the honor to 
rise and approach, which labor we willingly would 
have dispensed with. He was afflicted with a palsy 
in his legs, which made locomotion quite painful. 
At any time for the past twenty years, it has been to 
him difficult, on account of his prodigious bulk, and 
he has got about mostly by aid of a hand-cart. His 
gait was as much like that of an elephant heading 
upon sharp ice, or a bear, taking his first dancing- 
steps, on hot iron, as any thing else. He weighed 
formerly three hundred and fifty pounds, so it was 
said, but of late had lost some flesh. He is now 
about fifty years of age, and a shrewd, intelligent 
man ; withal a wit, and converses fluently in English, 
• and with much naivette. As a tradesman, he is 
exceedingly keen, and has the reputation of being 
the wealthiest chief of the court. Our reception was 
cordial and unceremonious. On learning we wished 
to visit the volcano, he offered to provide canoes for 
a portion of the way, at a price which we afterwards 
were assured was four times more than it was worth. 
He then took us into his civilized house, a fine, large 
two story building, situated on the water-side, and 
which would make a very respectable country tavern 
in the United States. It has a neat portico in front, 
but in the rear it is disfigured by one of those tern- 



212 PALACE. CHURCH. 

porary reed ranais or sheds, which Hawaiians inva- 
riably attach to their dwellings, as a screen from the 
sun, when they lounge in the open air. The rooms 
are beautifully pannelled with the Koa wood; they 
are spacious, and contain some elegant furniture, 
made from the Ko. He showed us over the whole 
house, with not a little apparent self-satisfaction. 
June 27th was spent in lionizing, of which, for so 
inconsiderable a town, — its population not exceed- 
ing two thousand — there was considerable to do. 
The stone church, which is one hundred and twenty 
feet long by forty-two in width, furnished with a 
steeple and vane, is capable of accommodating two 
thousand people. Externally, it has a factory-like 
look. The interior is good, with lofty galleries, sup- 
ported by marble-painted pillars, and a pulpit of 
beautiful finish, made from the dark striped Koa, 
than which wood there is none finer for cabinet 
work. The edifice is a monument of the liberality 
of the governor, having been erected mostly at his 
expense^ and I believe it shares his pride equally 
with his house. The governor's piety, for he has 
long been a church-member, is rather of the utilita- 
rian order. No native has a more correct knowledge 
of the truth, and of the world generally. He has a 
keen insight into character, and is at the same time 
avaricious and ostentatious. Fond of power him- 
self, he is jealous of it in others ; and the mission 
have never acquired any controlling influence over 
him, although he has been a firm and useful friend. 
After the completion of his church, he enacted sev- 
eral laws to regulate divine worship, which one 



GOVERNOR ADAMS. 213 

would think were borrowed from the Blue Laws of the 
colony of New Haven. No woman was allowed to 
enter it without a bonnet ; dogs also were excluded. 
Very good regulations these ; but a hard one for sleep- 
ers was, that any one caught napping was rapped on 
the forehead with a long cane. He had police 
stationed about it to enforce their execution. The 
laws relating to his own premises were more severe. 
Any woman entering them bonnetless, was liable to 
have her hair shaved off close to her head. 

In strolling about, we could not but notice the 
prince-like care with which the Governor had provi- 
ded for himself, and the great contrast between his 
comforts and the miserable habitations of his people. 
Two good dwelling-houses by turns, sheltered him ; 
the canoes, in short, every thing that was really worth 
having, belonged to him. In no other place is the 
distinction between chief and people more painfully 
apparent. Adams is, however, the last surviving 
high chief of the olden regime, and it is not to be 
expected that the habits of a half century will yield 
entirely to novel views, however praiseworthy. Hence 
he has been the last to give his sanction to the new 
constitution, and its effect within his jurisdiction is 
still circumscribed. But draw the reins tight as he 
will, the people are now slipping away from them. 
He is a Mehemet Ali on a small scale. He has 
made good roads, but the people sweated for them, 
and not he, either in body or purse. The public 
improvements which he has undertaken are almost 
as numerous as those of one of our repudiating 
States ; with this advantage, however, that no bor- 



214 'house of gods/ 

rowed money has been spent. The blood and 
sinews of those who were to reap the benefit, have 
toiled unceasingly upon them. By such works, 
Adams has acquired among foreigners the reputation 
of being a public-spirited ruler. To keep his coffers 
filled, he peddles merchandise, contracts for building 
a church for the papists, or buys and sells a cargo. 
Formerly, every chicken or potato sold, paid about 
half their value to him as a tax. Three years since 
he undertook to manufacture coarse cottons. The 
neighboring soil is excellent for growing the raw 
material. He provided a thatched building, and dig- 
nified it with the title of factory. When I saw it, it 
contained two native-made looms, and several dozen 
spinning jennies. It had been in operation for one 
year, and proper machinery had been sent for to the 
United States. Thirty girls were employed, who 
received one third of the quantity manufactured, as 
wages. The first cloth produced was of a coarse 
twilled warp, exceedingly strong and durable. Since 
that, much improvement has been made, and at 
present, the quality is finer, and promises well for 
the future. Several pieces have been dyed in stripes, 
with logwood. The whole establishment being man- 
aged by natives, is additional proof of their capacity 
for the arts of civilized life and their mechanical skill. 
One of Kamehameha's temples, 'a house of gods,' 
a small grass building, still exists. It is built upon 
a stone mole, jutting into the sea. Near it remains 
but one of the many wooden images of colossal 
size, sphinx-like head, and hideous, gaping mouth — 
a horrible burlesque upon the ' human form divine/ 



CAVE OF LANIAKEA. 215 

which formerly were ranged about the exterior. 
These pagan symbols have vanished from the land. 
More, I suppose, can now be found in some muse- 
ums in Europe or America, than in the whole length 
and breadth of the group. Some years since, the 
demand for them was so great, that an ingenious 
native derived a rich profit by their manufacture; his 
skill, and exposure to the atmosphere, gave them the 
semblance of true antiques, veritable gods. Near 
by the temple, is the ancient house of audience of 
the old warrior-king — in which, after his decease, his 
body was dissected. The final resting-place of his 
bones, like that of Moses, none can tell : the secret 
having perished with the faithful follower whose 
province it was to inter them. The mole upon 
which these buildings are situated, also answers for 
a fort. Along it, and on the beach, are strewn from 
thirty to forty heavy cannons, most of them, however, 
dismantled and unserviceable. 

In the rear of the town there are many caves, some 
of which extend for miles inland. They were form- 
ed during eruptions of lava, by its suddenly cooling 
on the surface, and running underneath, until the 
stream discharged itself at some outlet. We ex- 
plored the one called Laniakea, the mouth of which 
is but a few rods from the residence of the Rev. A. 
Thurston. Its course is towards the sea ; narrow 
and low near its entrance, so that we were obliged 
to creep occasionally ; farther on, expanding suddenly 
into chambers twenty-five feet in height and of pro- 
portionate lateral dimensions. The floor was strewn 
in great confusion with vast fragments of lava, long 



216 KAPIOLANI. COOK'S MONUMENT. 

branches of which, encrusted with calcareous matter, 
like icicles formed by the dripping of water from 
above, were pendant from the roof. Following it 
up through its irregular windings, and gradual de- 
scent, at the distance of twelve hundred feet from 
its mouth, we reached a pool of water. Both in 
odor and taste it was sulphureous. Although almost 
stifled by the smoke and heat of the candle-nut 
torches which our attendants bore, we stripped and 
plunged in. The water was cold, and produced a 
prickly sensation to the skin. The hall here was 
lofty, and covered through its whole extent with 
a fret of lava-knobs, columns, drops, and branches, 
jagged and fantastic in shape and hue. Our lights 
were too nearly exhausted to admit of further explor- 
ation, and we crawled back to daylight. 

Governor Adams sent us for supper some of the 
delicious mullet reared by himself. These, properly 
cooked, are the chef d'asuvre of Hawaiian epicurian- 
ism, and richly do they merit the gastronomic repu- 
tation they have acquired. Here they were more 
than commonly fine, and I doubt not fat John him- 
self owes a good share of his own obesity to their 
nutritious qualities. In return for their feeding him 
so well, he sees that they are well fed. 

It was our intention to have paid our respects to 
Kapiolani, the pattern female chief of Hawaii, who, 
to genuine christian attainments, and the habits of 
civilization, added a refinement of manner which 
gained for her an enviable reputation. She resid- 
ed at Kaawaloa, near the death-spot of Captain 
Cook, whose humble monument, erected by Lord 



EMBARK FOR KAWAIHAE. 217 

Byron, attracts all visitors. It is emphatically a 
seaman's shrine, and yearly, from all quarters of the 
globe, do they go up to gaze upon the spot where he 
fell faceward into the water, and to gather from the 
rock upon which his footsteps slipped, a memento 
of a great, though erring man. But the vessel was 
to leave that night for Kawaihae, a port thirty 
miles to the north, and directly on our route. By 
going in her we should lose Kaawaloa, but avoid 
delay, and an exceedingly bad road. At dark we 
hurried to the beach to embark. Our lady passen- 
ger with her children were there before us, and the 
whole village in her train. They had come to tes- 
tify their affection for their teacher. Many brought 
fruits, vegetables, and numberless little gifts to be 
used on her voyage. Their demeanor was sincere 
and sorrowful. As the boat pushed off, numbers 
rushed into the water, following their departing 
friends as far as they were able. A smothered, but 
prolonged wail broke from the group, and they 
watched the boat as long as she was visible. 

It was midnight before the land-breeze set down 
with sufficient strength for the brig to get underway. 
As it was, she passed within her length of a ledge 
of rocks, towards which the swell was momentarily 
casting her nearer ; a favorable flaw, however, ena- 
bled her to claw off just as she was expected to 
strike. The wind continued light, so that by morn- 
ing our progress had been inconsiderable. A more 
dreary, cheerless coast never presented itself. It was 
one uniform ruin of extinct craters, from whose 
summits, long wastes of lava, black, rugged, and 
19 



218 KAWAIHAE. 

verdureless, spread themselves out in every direction. 
Mauna Hualalai rose in the background to the height 
of eight thousand feet, a huge, repulsive monument 
of desolation, its sides furrowed with dark and pre- 
cipitous ravines, and its summit surmounted by a 
series of volcanic pits of greater magnitude than 
those which rest upon its base. This mountain 
was ascended for the first time by a party from Van- 
couver's vessels, in 1794. Smoke was then visible 
at its greatest elevation. A few years later, it poured 
out a volume of liquefied rock, which overran a 
wide extent of country, destroying several villages, 
fish-ponds, and plantations, finally expending itself 
in the ocean, where it filled up an extensive bay, 
twenty miles in length, and formed a new headland 
several miles beyond the old termination of the 
coast. The mountain yet looks gloomily, as if 
brooding some new disaster. The scene was re- 
lieved by occasional glimpses of the snowy tops of 
Mauna Kea, as they gleamed out from the dense 
masses of clouds which clung about them. 

It was three o'clock in the afternoon before anchor 
was dropped at Kawaihae. Though barren and 
almost destitute of inhabitants, it is a place of some 
note in the history of the country. Here Keoua, the 
rival of Kamehameha, and his followers, were assas- 
sinated as they were stepping ashore from their 
canoes, and their bodies sacrificed at the heathen 
temple, which stands so conspicuously in the fore- 
ground, the largest and most perfect of the remains 
of paganism in existence. This was the favored 
shrine of the stern yet pious old warrior, and blood 



WEATHER. 219 

flowed freely on its altars at his command. A well- 
built store and a few houses constituted the only 
appearance of a town. There was no vegetation to 
be seen. From the heights above, the winds called 
1 mumuku ' sweep down with tremendous, but short- 
lived fury, driving vessels from their anchors, and 
making the ocean white with rage. Yet to this place 
Kalaimoku, the warrior and statesman, when at the 
summit of his power, regent of the kingdom, and 
the crown of Kauai offered him, wished to retire, pre- 
fering rest, and a good fishing-ground, to the cares and 
luxuries of royal prerogatives. Kawaihae is merely 
a depot for goods for the interior. A good coast-road 
leads to Waimea, fourteen miles distant. It was ex- 
cessively hot, but we started on foot, and sweating and 
panting we toiled up the gradual ascent. The coun- 
try rises about two hundred and fifty feet to the mile. 
As we advanced, it became more rolling and verdant, 
with a ridge of wooded mountains on our left. 

When half way, the temperature suddenly chang- 
ed. A stormy, cold breeze sprung up, accompanied 
with a driving rain, which fell directly in our faces. 
The water streamed from our clothing, and walking 
was difficult. However, it was better than swelter- 
ing beneath a fierce sun. Night came on pitchy 
dark We kept the road tolerably well, because it 
was difficult to walk out of it. Suddenly we found 
ourselves on the brink of a stream, the extent or 
depth of which it was impossible to discover. Our 
shouts aroused a native from his slumbers near by. 
It was Sabbath eve. We wished him to take us 
across. He demurred on account of the sacredness 



220 WEATHER. 

of the day. We urged him. He asked me if I 
were a ' mission ary,' and whether it was ; pono} a 
good thing, for him to carry us over. I assured him 
it was, and moreover he should be well paid for it. 
The latter argument was irresistible, and he backed 
us across without further delay, and prompt and 
early the next morning came for his reward. On 
proceeding, the road became more confused, the 
storm waxed fiercer, and we lost our way. After 
wandering at random for some time, until confusion 
was literally becoming ' worse confounded,' the only 
alternative seemed to be to select the softest rock for 
our bed, and the thickest bush for our shelter. For- 
tunately a light was discovered, and we made directly 
for it. It issued from a native hut, into which, with- 
out ceremony, we entered. At our disconsolate 
appearance, all dripping with wet, and shivering with 
cold, the women uttered their mournful ' au-ue,' 
and pitied us all they could. What was better, they 
procured a guide to conduct us to the house of the 
missionary at Waimea, which was soon reached. 
We were hungry, and he fed us ; wet, and he 
clothed us ; our own baggage not arriving until the 
ensuing day. Woollen clothes and a fire for the 
first time at these islands I found very comfortable, 
and our attention to the stove until retiring was most 
exemplary. A fire in midsummer is no rarity here. 
Waimea is situated on an extensive plain, with 
Mauna Kea on the one side, and a range of less ele- 
vated mountains on the other. The trades sweeping 
over them, chilled by the constant rains on their 
summit, pour over the plain as through a tunnel, 



WAIMEA. 221 

whistling and shrieking in all the fury of a gulf- 
stream gale. During their violence the plain is 
either drenched with showers, or alive with driving 
sand and gravel, which is borne along with the 
force of hail, cutting the features exposed, and driv- 
ing the luckless traveller to a shelter. The thermom- 
eter for one season averaged but sixty-four degrees, 
varying but little either way from that temperature. 
Thin ice is formed during the winter. This degree 
of cold makes it an excellent site to recruit a system 
debilitated by the heat of the coast. In good weather 
the air is remarkably pure and bracing ; the plain 
abounds in strawberries, and affords a fine field for 
hunting wild cattle, which here are very numerous. 
The population is sparse, amounting to but few 
thousands. Their food is mostly brought from a 
valley twelve miles distant. 

There are some good houses and stores ; the for- 
eigners, mostly mechanics and bullock-hunters, num- 
ber sixty. Very good beef and pork is here salted, 
and exported; also, a considerable quantity of lard. 
Sugar has been raised, but of inferior quality. Shoes 
and saddlery are also manufactured to some extent. 
As an anomaly in the culinary art, tolerable bread is 
made, by the housewives, from poi and arrow-root. 
A few miles distant, are the sepulchral caves of the 
ancient inhabitants, which have so often been dis- 
turbed by the craniological propensities of travellers, 
that the natives have taken away the remains of their 
ancestors, and bestowed them in a more secure situ- 
ation. 

We had great difficulty in procuring men for our 
19* 



222 MEN PROCURED. 

jaunt, which was to ascend Mauna Kea, and reach 
the volcano through the central part of the island. 
The natives have no passion for high mountains, or 
cold weather. Good men were not to be procured 
at any rate; but to go we were determined, and, 
finally, by negotiating with the ( head man,' we pro- 
cured twelve, and a guide, named Honoa, who pro- 
fessed to be acquainted with every path and route on 
the whole island. These fellows were all of the 
'chain-gang' criminals, who had the choice of going 
with us, or continuing their labors on the public 
works. Their wages, I suppose, were to go towards 
the payment of fines. It was evident that to them 
it was but a choice of evils ; for they manifested no 
enthusiasm in the cause. When they were all mus- 
tered, a more cut-throat looking set never made their 
appearance out of Newgate. The countenances of 
some were perfectly hideous, combining all of evil 
human features are capable of expressing. One 
would have set to advantage for the original of Mi- 
chael Angelo's Satan. So strong was the impres- 
sion, that with us he always was known by that 
diabolical cognomen. Another bore no faint resem- 
blance to David's Cain. In sober truth, they looked 
ugly enough for any wicked deed; and had they 
been of any race but the Hawaiian, and had we 
aught about us that was valuable, we should have 
voted, unanimously, to dispense with their services. 
Our baggage, consisting of a calabash of clothing, 
another of hard bread and cold pork, and several 
blankets apiece, was divided among them. For their 
wants, we provided thick tapas, to screen them from 



START FOR MAUNA KEA. 223 

the cold and rain, seven hundred pounds of poi, one 
hundred of fish and dried beef, and as much water 
as they could carry in addition ; stores sufficient for 
several weeks. They started in advance. 

By twelve o'clock, the thirtieth of June, we were 
mounted, and on our way ; for we had taken horses, 
to ascend the mountain as far as it was practicable 
to go with them. The plain remained quite level for 
twelve miles, broken occasionally into crater-like 
hills; our course, at first, was east-southeast, then 
diverged to southeast by east, until we reached the 
mountain. The first portion of ascent was gradual, 
through a scanty forest. At sunset, we stopped at a 
cave, about seven thousand feet up, where we were 
to pass the night. It is a common caution, to beware 
of these places ; and never was the caution more 
needed, than in this instance. Scarcely had we set 
foot within its precincts, before we were literally 
fleaed alive. Our clothing was immediately lined 
with them ; and such stout ones ! their very kick was 
painful. After grinning, twisting, and scratching, for 
some minutes, we came to the unanimous decision, 
that this was a species of martyrdom altogether in- 
consistent with the objects of our journey, and we 
bolted. An hour's stripping and search, by twilight, 
freed us of the most implacable of our enemies, and 
then we sought a new resting-place, with the cool 
prospect of sleeping blanketless and supperless, as 
our men had not arrived. Having prepared a bed of 
dried ferns, we turned in, brimful of wrath at our 
lazy kanakas. However, before nine o'clock, they 
came straggling along, made us a fire, and we passed 



224 WILD CATTLE. 

a comfortable night. Thermometer, forty-six degrees 
at sunrise. 

July 1st. This morning, we were up and off, as 
early as the somniferent propensities of our men 
would permit. Our course was directly for the sum- 
mit, the shortest, though steepest w T ay. Some fine 
white raspberries were discovered, and greedily 
plucked. A few strawberries were now and then 
seen ; but a few hours of toilsome ascent and slow 
progress carried us beyond the line of vegetation, ex- 
cept one species of fern, and a few stunted grasses. 
We then entered upon a bed of scoria and rough 
lava. This led to a large crater, apparently the great 
terminal one of Mauna Kea. The side towards the 
northwest, through which we entered, was torn away, 
and here the lava, apparently, had discharged itself. 
Including the numerous sand and scoria conical- 
shaped chimneys, which have an elevation of from 
five hundred to one thousand feet each, and appear 
to have been, as it were, blovm up, by the expansive 
force beneath, its circumference was not less than 
six miles. The basin was broken up into lakes, 
crested waves, cones, and all the distorted shapes of 
an active crater, rendering travelling exceedingly 
rough. Our men gave out, every few rods. On 
these chimneys were herds of bullocks, which scam- 
pered off at our approach, and plunged down their 
rugged sides, with a rapidity which defied pursuit. 
Their only object in frequenting this region, where 
there is no trace of vegetation, is to avoid the pursuit 
of the hardy hunters, or to lick the snow. 

After pushing our way until within two thousand 



HORSES GIVE OUT : MEN ALSO. 225 

feet of the summit, our horses sank exhausted to the 
ground, and we sent them back. This was at the 
bed of a large lava lake, at the southeastern extrem- 
ity of the crater. Here we found a series of min- 
erals, such as we had not noticed before. They were 
augite, hornblende, olivine, etc. Leaving the lava, 
we struck upon volcanic gravel, loose and slippery to 
the footing. At this height, my respiration was sen- 
sibly affected, lips cracked, eye-balls inflamed, and a 
dizzy, swimming sensation in my head. Some of 
the natives were similarly attacked. By the time we 
had reached the foot of a sand hill, about three hun- 
dred feet above us, which the guide insisted was the 
highest peak of the mountain, these symptoms had 
increased to such a degree, accompanied by faint- 
ness, that I could not walk without assistance, and 
but a few rods at a time. Some peppermint and 
brandy, mixed with water, relieved me a little. My 
companions were less troubled. It was now sunset, 
and we were on the highest visible point but one, 
surrounded by a scene of infinite grandeur. To the 
south lay Mauna Loa, with its dome summit, on 
which could distinctly be traced the great crater of 
Douglas, now at rest, for no smoke was visible. 
Mauna Hualalai rose precipitously on our right ; and 
such was the clearness of the atmosphere, that they 
both appeared close upon us, though thirty miles dis- 
tant. On this side, we had an adequate conception 
of our elevation, thirteen thousand, six hundred feet. 
The great plain, between the two mountains, which 
is two days' journey across, appeared but a mere 
valley, while immediately beneath us, Mauna Kea 



226 WONDERFUL VIEW. 

descended so precipitously, that its base could not be 
seen. The sky was cloudless, and of the most per- 
fect transparency. Looking back, from whence we 
bad ascended, our gaze rested upon an ocean of 
clouds, piled in gorgeous and dense masses, or lying 
like drifts of the whitest snow. The last rays of the 
sun played upon this airy sea, with the most daz- 
zling brilliancy, giving it those ethereal shades, which 
are beyond description, and no artist can catch. 
This belt of clouds shrouded all beneath from our 
view; but in the background, sixty-five miles dis- 
tant, rose, in bold relief, like some ethereal island, the 
dark blue peaks of Maui ; for they had that tinge. 
Their appearance at once drew from all, one sympa- 
thizing burst of delight and astonishment. Though 
they were nearly four thousand feet below us, with 
more than two thirds of their height enveloped in 
vapor, there they stood, seemingly rising for miles in 
perpendicular height above, and with a proximity 
that appeared fearful. In our ascent, on looking 
back occasionally, we had noticed that these peaks 
appeared above us, which we attributed to our being 
still far from the summit of Mauna Kea. But when 
our present position was gained, and we turned our 
heads to take a last view in that direction, their eleva- 
tion appeared miraculous; for they towered appa- 
rently as far above us, as we above the plain. It was 
a spectacle that would have repaid the greatest toil ; 
and was, doubtless, one of those rare combinations 
in the natural world, of the serenely grand and beau- 
tiful, shadowing forth the mysteries and sublimities of 
the all-creating power, which ever awaken a holy sen- 



A ROCKY LODGING-PLACE. 227 

timent even in the coldest heart. The effect was over- 
whelming, and we gazed, spell-bound, in silent praise 
and admiration. The soul felt its influence, and rea- 
son was awed. Sufficient for us was it thus to be- 
hold that wondrous phenomenon. In the still closet, 
the outward perceptions confined to its walls, calcu- 
lating philosophy might lay bare the secret of its 
birth. But we were resting on one of the sublimest 
monuments of God's creative fiat, far beyond the 
works of man. Around us, above and beneath, rose 
the mighty pinnacles of nature's glorious temple ; 
the lovely and stupendous, the pleasing and terrible, 
commingling in most perfect harmony. It was as if 
all spirits, pure and great, fair and base, had involun- 
tarily united in an anthem to the Almighty. His 
attributes, love, mercy, and justice, were here typi- 
fied in all their fulness. Night, at that elevation, was 
slow in creeping up the mountain; and the parting 
rays of the sun loitered upon its peaks, long after 
twilight had settled into darkness at its base. Before 
it reached us, we took the hint, and on the south side 
descended about eight hundred feet. We there 
found an overhanging rock, which afforded some de- 
gree of shelter from the keen mountain air. It did 
not blow, but the thermometer stood at forty degrees. 
The leaves of some giant ferns, which lay scattered 
about, lifeless and dried, made a very tolerable bed. 
Their trunks afforded fuel for a fire. Our natives 
huddled together like sheep ; and we all made our- 
selves as comfortable, as a rocky couch, and that none 
of the smoothest, would allow. 

We found it impossible to sleep, the rarefication of 



228 HEIGHT OF THE MOUNTAIN* 

the atmosphere still causing faintness, until we drew 
our blankets over our heads. All were up at sun- 
rise, the thermometer stood at thirty degrees, and a 
fine bracing morning it was. My companions, not 
having seen the snow, disbelieved the guide's state- 
ment the evening previous, and started themselves to 
seek the summit. Having ascended the hill which 
the guide had pointed out, they found another arising 
two hundred or more feet above that, which, after 
great labor, they scaled. These hills are composed 
of loose sand, into which one slips knee deep at 
every step. The second one was frozen hard. This 
they found to be the highest point; it was covered 
with slag, lava, and gravel. The snow, or rather ice, 
lay in chasms, in a few spots, in masses ten feet deep, 
fourteen wide, and three hundred long. It had gone 
but recently from where we were the evening before, 
traces of it still remaining on the ground. Snow falls 
during storms throughout the summer, but rarely re- 
mains long. Some, doubtless, in sheltering situa- 
tions, survives the season. About five hundred feet 
down, in a southerly direction, lay the pond of water, 
the existence of which has been often doubted. It 
lies in the basin of a small crater, and, at that dis- 
tance, appeared green and slimy. Having piled a 
cairn, as a memorial of their success, they returned in 
all haste to the camp. 

Travellers have differed greatly in their estimates 
of the elevation of Mauna Kea; some raising it even 
to eighteen thousand feet, while others reduce it to 
thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-five. Capt. 
Wendt, in 1831, makes it fourteen thousand and 



HEIGHT OF THE MOUNTAINS. 229 

fifty-five feet. Considerable discrepancy seems to 
exist in regard to Mr. Douglas's measurements. In 
a letter to a friend in London, dated May 6, 1834 
and published with his journal, he gives Mauna Kea 
an altitude of thirteen thousand eight hundred and 
fifty-one feet. Mauna Loa, thirteen thousand five 
hundred and seventeen feet. The editors of the 
Hawaiian Spectator, Volume I, No. 2, page 98, 
quote Douglas at thirteen thousand seven hundred 
and sixty-four feet for Mauna Kea, thirteen thousand 
four hundred and seventy feet for Mauna Loa. 
' The Prussian Chart,' published at Potsdam, 1839, 
citing Douglas as authority, makes Mauna Kea 
thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-five feet, 
Mauna Loa thirteen thousand two hundred and thirty. 

Being unexpectedly disappointed in obtaining a 
barometer, we were not able to add any scientific 
measurements to the list given, and here, as at other 
places on our route, were obliged to depend upon 
the dicta of others, or upon such calculations as 
could be obtained from simple computations, pacings, 
lines, &c, which was a source of great vexation to 
us, after having, as we flattered ourselves, obtained 
the necessary instruments for ascertaining heights, 
(one of the principal objects of our trip,) and not 
learning of our disappointment, until it was too late 
to remedy it. 

Since our visit a geological and topographical sur- 
vev of the chief features of the island has been made 
by the scientific gentlemen of the U. S. Exploring Ex- 
pediiion; the results of which will soon be made 
public. 

20 



230 A SNOW-BALLING IN JULY. 

Douglas speaks of the ' apparent non-diminution 
of sound,' as being a matter of astonishment to him. 
The ease and distinctness with which we heard 
voices, and even conversation at long distances, was 
frequently noticed by us ; also, the rapidity with which 
other sounds were transmitted. 

Before my friends reached the camp, I had started 
with our men, to descend the mountain, zigzagging 
in a southerly direction. They were quite benumbed 
with cold, and it was not until the sun had been up 
some hours, that they became sufficiently thawed, to 
proceed with any vigor. The descent was exceed- 
ingly steep and wearisome. This side of the moun- 
tain was nothing but a vast pile of compact volcanic 
rocks, of all sizes, broken into every variety of shape, 
all presenting sharp sides, and jagged points, and 
thrown at random into a loose, sliding bed of gravel, 
which, slipping from under our feet at every step, en- 
dangered our limbs by the avalanches of stones it 
carried with it. After a few miles of such slope, the 
men discovered a spring of clear, cold water, gush- 
ing out of the mountain, to which we all hastened, 
having been upon an allowance of that article for 
the last twenty-four hours. Here the missing ones 
rejoined our party. Mr. C. brought with him a 
handkerchief filled with snow, with which we turn- 
ed to and had a fine snow-balling, while it lasted, 
pelting each other right merrily. Our Honolulu 
friends, puffing and panting with heat and dust, 
no doubt would have envied us the occupation. 
The declivity proved equally steep the whole way 
down, with soil sufficient only to bear a few grasses, 



REACH THE BASE OF THE MOUNTAIN. 231 

and a small species of cassia with a yellow blossom. 
Herds of bullocks were frequently seen, some of 
which were quite tame, and did not run until we ap- 
proached within pistol shot. Before reaching the 
plain we were exceedingly annoyed by a strong 
wind suddenly springing up, which drove the sand 
in dense clouds before it, cutting our faces and blind- 
ing our eyes by its violence. The plain, bounded by 
Mauna Kea on the north, Mauna Loa on the south, 
and Mauna Hualalai on the west, and embracing 
nearly a third of the superficial extent of the whole 
island, appears to have been to most persons a terra 
incognita. On some of the earlier charts a swamp, 
or morass, is delineated as occupying much of this 
area, and even to this day it is but seldom visited, 
except by bullock-catchers. It is mostly a table-land, 
gradually swelling from both sides of the island, un- 
til it attains an elevation of four thousand feet. On 
the south and east it is cut up by streams of lava, 
apparently of not very ancient date, which have 
flowed from the adjacent mountains. Numerous 
small conical craters, of exceedingly regular shape, 
and composed of slag and sand, dot these streams. 
As they approach Mauna Kea, vegetation commen- 
ces, on a soil composed of sand and ashes, through 
which the volcanic layers occasionally show them- 
selves, but not frequently enough to prevent a tolera- 
ble cart-road from running along by the base of the 
mountain. On this side, the plain, hills, and small 
craters, for many miles, are beautifully diversified 
with groves of an elegant laurel, which we had no- 
ticed nowhere else on the island, or indeed, on any 



232 ' CLINKERS.' 

other of the group. It grew in clusters of from 
thirty to forty feet in height, with small dark 
green leaves, delicate white blossoms, and branches 
that nearly swept the ground. Their foliage formed 
a graceful dome, impervious to the sun ; while be- 
neath was a greensward, free from all underbrush. 
Upon the whole, they were decidedly the preltiest 
trees that we met on ihe island. The plain is too 
dry ever to become fertile, or of any value to the ag- 
riculturist, being like a sponge, so porous that water 
cannot remain u_ on it. 

After leaving the mountain we travelled at a rapid 
rate for nine miles, the latter part through a driving 
rain, until we reached a bullock-catcher's hut. It 
was a mere temporary shelter, thrown up by them 
while in their hunting excursions, but it proved a 
welcome haven to us. Having built a fire, dried our 
clothes, and supped on pork, which by this time had 
become quite lively, we laid down upon a bed of 
leaves, and enjoyed a sound night's rest. 

July 3. — Rose at five o'clock. Thermometer for- 
ty-eight degrees. Started our natives immediately. 
A mile more travelling S. S. E., carried us clear of 
the laurel trees, and we found ourselves upon one of 
those McAdamized tracts of Hawaii, yclept ' clink- 
ers,' or, in other words, volcanic streams, which in 
cooling, have split, cracked, tumbled, and burst into 
every jagged and irregular shape of which nature is 
capable. Here came the tug of war for our shoes, 
which soon gave out, but having four pair apiece in 
our baggage, we re-shod ourselves, and hastened on. 
The natives wore sandals made of raw-hides, which, 
requiring frequent renewal, greatly delayed our 



* CLINKERS.' 233 

march. The ugliness of their looks had got into 
their manners, and they gave us increasing trouble, 
the farther we advanced. If we wished to push 
on, they lagged. If we rested, they hastened on. 
We had grown sufficiently wise from past expe- 
rience not to trust them alone with the baggage ; 
this they knew and availed themselves of, to the ut- 
most. If we scolded, they scowled; if we coaxed, 
they laughed ; in their impudence they forgot, that, if 
they outnumbered us, we held the purse-strings, and 
we consoled ourselves with the thought of what we 
would do at the termination of the jaunt. The 
rascals had already consumed and wasted, to lighten 
their loads, seven days' provision in two, besides de- 
vouring most of our own. Poor fellows, their grub, 
in the prison allowance, had been short; but their 
capacity of stomach baffled all our calculation, and 
at every halt we found the deficiency of our provis- 
ions becoming more alarming. Eat, or rather stuff, 
they would now, although assured they would soon 
be obliged to labor without food. 

The clinkers were interspersed with some tracts 
of smoother lava, which at any other time we should 
have thought bad enough, but now they proved a 
most agreeable change from their rougher neighbors. 
We occasionally came upon wild geese, which were 
very tame, and found abundance of rain-water 
in the hollows of the rocks. At one o'clock we 
reached a fresh tract of clinkers two miles across, 
which was the very ' blackness of desolation ' itself. 
Just imagine the slag from all the forges and glass 
factories which have been in existence since the 
2<}^ 



234 A BED IN THE RAIN. SMOKY CAVE. 

commencement of time, dropped in masses, from the 
size of a small house to that of a marble, upon a 
plain like this ; every mass being all points, every 
point sharp and cragged, and all uppermost, and a 
faint idea of this highway can be formed. 

A portion of the way was like crawling over piles 
of broken junk bottles, each bottle varying from the 
size of a demijohn to a hogshead. After pitching, 
twisting, and tumbling over it, for two hours, to the 
imminent danger of our necks, dislocation of our 
ancles, and destruction of our clothing, we came to 
better footing. We were now crossing the eastern 
spur of Mauna Loa, through a forest of dwarf ohia 
trees. The rain, which had been lowering all the 
morning, now began to pour, and soon thoroughly 
drenched us. At four o'clock we passed, on our left, 
quite a lake of water, a curiosity for this island, but 
owing to the storm could not stop to examine it. At 
five, having found a cave, we concluded to encamp 
for the night, having been on foot twelve hours, 
though, owing to the badness of the road, our pro- 
gress was not more than fifteen miles. The cave 
was but three feet high, and a couple of rods in depth. 
The rain was leaking through the roof, leaving us 
the choice only between wet or wetter ground. 
However, having crawled in, we soon disposed of 
ourselves for the night, with the consoling prospect 
of having a cold or rheumatism to accompany us the 
remainder of the trip. Scarcely had we got asleep, 
when we were awakened, all but suffocated with 
smoke ; jumping up, we found our natives had made 
a fire of wet wood at the mouth of the cave, and were 



MAMMOTH RASPBERRIES. 235 

coolly sitting at the windward and seeing us gasping 
for breath. The way natives and fire-brands went 
out of the cave, will prove a caution to them not to 
attempt to convert any future travellers into bacon. 
The former sought a new fire-place. Lying down 
again, we passed a tolerable night, and awoke in the 
morning with merely a soreness in our limbs, which 
exercise soon wore off. At this height, five thousand 
feet, the thermometer was thirty-eight degrees, indi- 
cating a low average temperature for this region ; 
such being the cold of a July morning. 

The day was the fourth, and was ushered in by a 
bright sun and hearty cheers. The travelling im- 
proved greatly, and, having reached the summit of 
an intervening spur, we had a distinct, though distant, 
view of the volcano. Steam and smoke were issuing 
from it, and, from our point of view, its vast depth 
and circumference were conspicuous. It looked an 
epitome of that pit, whose smoke ascendeth for ever. 
Strong breezes drove its murky gases and vapors 
round and round its sides, until they circled high 
into the air, and disappeared before fresher blasts. 
A little farther on, we discovered large beds of de- 
licious strawberries, and tall raspberry bushes ; in- 
deed, with propriety, when compared with our own, 
they might be called trees. They were loaded with 
fruit, of a size which equally astonished and gratified 
us. Incredible as it may appear, some were actu- 
ally five inches in circumference, and all enormously 
large. They were exceedingly juicy, and to us their 
flavor, in the first moment of devouring them, seemed 
luscious ; but after our appetites were satiated, and we 



236 EFFECTS OF A TORNADO, OR EARTHQUAKE. 

began to be captious in our selections, a slightly- 
bitter or pungent flavor was detected, caused, per- 
haps, by the nature of the soil, which was thin, and 
wholly volcanic. Their quality, and even dimen- 
sions, would doubtless be much improved by cul- 
tivation. 

The country was open, with a gentle declivity to- 
wards the crater, until within five miles of it, when 
we entered a dense forest of very large timber, cov- 
ered with arborescent ferns. Either a whirlwind or 
earthquake had occurred recently, for the ground was 
strewed with overgrown trees, some of which were 
four to five feet in diameter. All were torn up by 
their roots, and they lay, with their trunks, roots, and 
branches, so enlangled, as to form a rude chevaux 
de /rise, both tedious and difficult to penetrate. 
Crawling over their limbs, slimy and snarled as they 
were with ferns, mosses, and parasitical vines, was 
far preferable, however, to stumbling over the horri- 
ble clinkers, when, at every step, one's knees are 
trembling beneath him, and he dares not use his 
hands to aid his course for fear of gashing them upon 
the vitrified edges of the broken rocks. 

Emerging from the forest, we skirted the woods in 
an easterly direction for a mile or so, and then struck 
off at a right angle for a few rods, when we arrived 
upon the brink of an old crater of great size. Twenty 
feet descent carried us into its basin, where we crossed 
two great rents in the earth, of which no termination 
could be seen. Their sides were covered with ferns, 
and they were five feet in width. An eighth of a 
mile off there was another declivity, which formed 



VOLCANO OF KILAUEA. 237 

the outer edge of Lua Pele. Descending this, a short 
run brought us breathless to the brink of the volcano. 
We were prepared to feel disappointment at first 
sight, but I must confess, that this view came far be- 
neath our expectations. ' Can this be the mighty 
crater of which we have read and heard so much ? 
There must be some mistake.' And we inquired 
of our guide again and again if there were no other. 
Where were ihe flames, the boiling cauldrons, the 
fiery foam, the booming waves, the bubbling lava, 
the deep, unearthly bellowings, the awful and sub- 
lime ; where were they ? Our eyes rested upon a 
mere mass of smouldering ruins. 

The expectations of those who have formed their 
ideas of volcanoes from the stereotyped representa- 
tions of Vesuvius and iEtna, with their conical sides 
and narrowed top, lava red and liquid running like 
rivers down its sides, stones and rocks soaring like 
feathers in the air, and volumes of steam and smoke, 
larger than the mountains themselves, ascending yet 
higher, will not be realized. Lua Pele, or Kilauea, 
is unlike anything of the kind, and stands by itself, 
an anomaly in nature ; the mightiest and most won- 
derful of earth's safety-valves. As we gazed, its 
immensity grew upon us. More and more we re- 
alized its vastness ; the stupendous area of the whole 
became more apparent by analyzing its parts. Ve- 
suvius might easily have lost itself in that pit. All 
was black, wilh occasional gleamings of red, like the 
forkings of lightning in a dense thunder-cloud. It 
looked like the ruins of some mighty conflagration, 
from which the smoke and flame still rose, and at 



238 A DANGEROUS LODGING-PLACE. 

any moment liable to break out again, fiercer than 
before. At the farther extremity, a bright light 
showed itself, like the flickering flame of half extin- 
guished embers, and all was silent except the occa- 
sional hissing of gases and steam. I thought of 
Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain* 
They must have appeared like this, before the waters 
flowed in and buried them for ever. After gazing 
until nightfall, we hastened to the hut, where we were 
to sleep, a mere shelter of roots and grass thrown 
upon a few sticks, and covered on the windward side 
only. It was but three feet from the brink of a per- 
pendicular precipice of four hundred feet, a portion 
of which had lately slid down part way, and hung 
threateningly over the remainder. Back of it was a 
crack in the earth, through which the steam con- 
stantly escaped. So occupied were we with the 
scene before us, that the danger to which we were 
exposed in sleeping here did not occur to us until 
we were ready to leave the crater, and the excitement 
was over. A slight shock of earthquake, and we 
should have known nothing more. However, having 
supped, we spread our blankets, with our heads 
towards the abyss, to be prepared for any display 
which might occur during the night, which closed in 
with a cold, drizzling rain. The wind blew in fu- 
rious squalls, threatening, at every gust, to drive our 
frail shelter into the pit below. In the chasm, along 
its walls, and through the numberless rents and gal- 
leries of the superincumbent rock, the blast howled 
dismally ; at times, dying away like the moan of 
some wounded animal ; and then again giving a 



STORM AND ERUPTION AT NIGHT. 239 

fitful shriek, as it whirled through some narrow pass, 
and echoed itself from a hundred others. The storm- 
spirit was abroad, and triumphantly careered over 
the habitation of the fierce goddess, daring her to the 
contest. Her response was sullen and ominous. 
The hitherto quiet crater at intervals threw up col- 
umns of hot steam, stones, and ashes, accompanied 
with loud reports, resembling the discharges of heavy 
artillery in a confined place. Occasionally, the fires 
at the farther extremity would gleam up with con- 
siderable brilliancy ; excepting this, nothing was to 
be seen, through the darkness, but the outlines of the 
chasm before us, and the whirling mist and smoke, 
reflecting the glare of the fires. 

What with the rain and cold, it was an uncom- 
fortable night ; the scene itself was too novel and 
exciting to allow either the body or imagination to 
slumber. Occasionally I fell into a doze, from which 
a gleam from some new fire, or a violent explosion, 
aroused me. On such occasions, straining my eyes 
to pierce the turmoil beneath, I ceased to wonder 
that native intellect had peopled a place like this 
with strange and fearful beings. It was a fit habita- 
tion for their malignant deities. If the Christian, in 
this scene, pictures to himself hell and its torments, 
and how often has it been thus likened, is the savage 
to be blamed, who sees in it strange shapes, and fiery 
halls, the lakes, the palaces, and dwelling-places of his 
devils ? Pele, the consuming goddess, insatiable as 
her element, the fire itself, ' the rain of night,' ' the 
king of vapor,' ' the thundering god,' ' heaven dwell- 
ing cloud-holder,' ' fiery-eyed canoe-breaker,' these, 



240 STEAM FISSURES. 

and many others, with names alike expressive of the 
varied actions of the crater, here, according to Ha- 
waiian mythology, hold their court. They have 
gone from the minds of men, but their abode re- 
mains unchanged. Their requiem was borne to 
our ears in the driving storm, the whistling wind, 
the fire and smoke, and all that was furious and de- 
structive. The morning of the fifth broke as the 
previous evening had commenced, but the sun soon 
dispelled much of the mist, and left us a pleasant 
day for our researches. Thermometer, 58 degrees. 
The plain on the north is much split up by fissures, 
from which steam continually issues, hot enough to 
cook meat or vegetables. In a few places it con- 
denses and forms excellent drinking water. Four 
species of very palatable berries grew here abun- 
dantly, commonly called ' huckleberries,' though 
they have but little resemblance in flavor, and none in 
color, 1o that fruit. To the northeast of this plain, 
we find sulphur banks several hundred yards in ex- 
tent, and about twenty feet high. The gases were 
not powerful, and by digging into the earth, which 
was hot, soft, and greasy, we obtained some beauti- 
ful specimens of sulphur, in all its different forms, 
the best of which, however, soon lost their beauty by 
exposure to the air. The efflorescences at the mouth 
of the crevices were exceedingly delicate and beau- 
tiful. These banks appear to be volcanic rock, de- 
composed by sulphuric acids, for it is to be seen in 
all its stages, from the hard rock to the soft paste. 
An hour's steaming here dissipated all the pain and 
soreness which we felt from our exposure to the 
weather. 



SULPHUR BEDS AND BATH. 241 

We estimated the circumference of the whole 
crater at five miles, the western side of which was 
the highest ; but in no place did the depth to the 
black ledge exceed five hundred feet. It is more 
oval than circular, its greatest breadth being from 
northeast to southwest, and is aptly termed by the 
natives Lua Pele, (Pele's Pit,) for it is nothing but 
an immense hole, which the fire has eaten in the 
ground. The natives have no other tradition of its 
origin, than that it has been burning from the time 
' of chaos ' until now, gradually extending itself lat- 
erally and perpendicularly. Formerly, it overflowed 
its banks, and the reign of each of their kings has 
witnessed destructive eruptions. 

Count Strzelecki makes the north-northeast cliff 
four thousand one hundred and one feet above the 
level of the sea ; Douglas, three thousand eight hun- 
dred and seventy-four. In descending to the black 
ledge, at the northeast extremity, the path winds 
round an old crater, small and steep on all sides ; 
its bottom is covered with masses of large rocks, 
shaken down by earthquakes, and large trees are also 
growing in it, indicating a long repose. 

Following this path, we soon arrived on the ledge, 
which appeared like a field of ice breaking up in the 
spring. It varied from five hundred to two thousand 
feet in width, and then abruptly terminated in craggy 
and overhanging precipices, which had split and 
burst in every direction, from the action of the fire 
beneath. The main body of the crater had settled 
down from the black ledge, in some places gradual- 
ly, until its own weight burst it violently from the 
21 



242 EXTENT OF CRATER. 

edge, leaving gaping chasms, the sides of which were 
intensely heated ; at others, it appeared to have sunk 
instantaneously, tearing away and undermining the 
ledge, and leaving precipices of two hundred feet in 
height. The greatest depth was about two hundred 
and fifty feet. The lakes, cones, and forges remain- 
ed, but were emptied of lava, and quiet, emitting 
nothing but smoke, excepting a lake at the south- 
western extremity, of which a bend in the ledge hid 
from our view all but the rising flames. Evidently, 
a short time before, the ledge had been overflowed, 
as the lava was piled in masses twenty feet high or 
more, on its outer edge, gradually decreasing in 
height as it rolled in immense waves from it ; and, 
without doubt, the whole mass had been raised, as 
we could now stand upon it and pluck ferns from 
the bank. We walked around the crater on the 
black ledge, endeavoring to find a place where it 
would be practicable to descend, but the banks were 
everywhere too much broken up to admit of it. In- 
dependently of that, they were so heated, that the 
brink could only be approached in a few places, and 
these only at great risk. It was cracked into great 
chasms, from a few feet to a rod in width, to which 
no bottom could be seen, and in places large masses 
had swollen up, and then tumbled in, like the burst- 
ing of an air bubble, or the falling in of a vast dome. 
The hollow, echoing sound beneath our feet, showed 
the insecurity of where we trod, and liability to give 
way, and precipitate us at any moment to instanta- 
neous death ; and I must confess, that it. was with 
fear that I walked along this path of destruction. 



DANGERS OF EXPLORATION. 243 

On the surface of the ledge the rock was black and 
very vesicular, but as it descended it grew more 
compact, and became of a white or leadish color. 
From all these pits and chasms a white flickering 
flame ascended, so hot in one place that we attempt- 
ed to cross as to singe the hair from our hands, and 
scorch our clothing. Nothing but a precipitate re- 
treat saved us from being enveloped in flames. The 
hot air would frequently flash up from the fissures 
without warning, and it required much caution and 
agility to escape from it. The thermometer, over one 
fissure, rose to one hundred and sixty-two degrees ; 
on the ledge, five hundred feet from the brink, three 
feet above the ground, ninety-seven degrees ; on the 
lava at the same place, one hundred and twenty-three 
degrees ; two feet above a fissure, one hundred and 
forty-eight degrees ; eighteen inches below the sur- 
face, it rose instantly to one hundred and sixty-six 
degrees. Continual heavy explosions were occurring 
on the sides, sounding like muffled artillery, throwing 
up stones, ashes, and hot steam two hundred feet or 
more into the air, and rending away the banks, tum- 
bled large masses of rock into the crater beneath. 
Indeed, the whole black ledge appeared like a mere 
crust, the igneous action beneath having eaten away 
its support, and which the slightest shock would 
precipitate into the gulf beneath, and thus restore the 
crater to its ancient limits. 

Small cones and diminutive piles of lava were 
scattered over its whole surface, where they had sud- 
denly rose and as quickly cooled. They had as- 
sumed many fantastic, and even beautiful shapes ; 



244 APPEARANCE OF THE CRATER. 

and their hues were singularly brilliant and varied. 
On the southeast and south sides, lava had gushed 
laterally from the bank, and flowed down from the 
ledge. Near here are the sulphur hills, from which 
the finest specimens are obtained. They were pret- 
tily coated with fine white, blue, and green salts, but 
owing to the intense heat and suffocating fumes of 
the gases, we were unable to secure many. A little 
farther on, we found the lava fissures incrusted with 
the most beautiful crystals and efflorescences, which 
had condensed into every variety of form and figure, 
but too delicate to bear exposure to the atmosphere. 
Having reached the southern extremity, we obtained 
our first view of the lake, tlfe light of which had at- 
tracted our attention the previous night. It was sev- 
eral hundred yards in circumference, and in the most 
sunken part of the cauldron. The lava was twenty 
feet below its banks, a liquid body, boiling, bubbling, 
and thrashing in great fury. Occasionally, it would 
become incrusted over, and then red streaks would 
shoot rapidly across its surface, leaving a momentary 
glimmer like that of meteors. In the centre, the 
lava was tossed high into the air, with a puffing, splut- 
tering noise, like the blast of a heavy bellows, min- 
gled with the roar of surf. Its color was livid, much 
resembling clotted, blood, of which the whole might 
be taken for an immense hell-brewed cauldron, and 
the unearthly noises for the moans of agonized 
spirits, and the fiendish cries of their tormentors. 
The effect upon the imagination was powerful, and 
the reality horrible and hellish, beyond description. 
To the leeward, the gases were strong, recnairing 



A PERILOUS SITUATION. 245 

much caution to avoid the stifling currents of heated 
air. On the northwest side, iilamentose lava, com- 
monly called Pele's hair, was thickly strewed for 
many acres, like a field of mown grass. 

Mr. C. and myself, having performed the circuit 
until we were underneath where our hut stood, where 
the bank, having given way to a considerable height, 
formed a steep hill, which appeared quite practicable 
of ascent, we proposed to shorten the distance by 
climbing up at this spot. No sooner thought of, than 
we made the attempt, and reached the first two hun- 
dred feet without any difficulty. Here, the summit 
being hid from us, we held a consultation whether 
to proceed or not. Upon looking down, we saw our 
natives gazing in astonishment at us, and urging us 
to return, saying that it was impossible for us to 
reach the top, and nothing but a bird could. How- 
ever, like all obstinate personages, we did not like to 
retrace our steps, so w T e pushed ahead. A few rods 
more climbing brought us to the perpendicular face 
of the rock, or rather rocks, which were loosely im- 
bedded in earth, and relieved only by some jutting 
points, and a few roots, on which but little depend- 
ence could be placed. We were now so high, that 
it was impossible to descend, as we could not see 
where to place our feet beneath us, and the slightest 
look downwards might make us loosen our hold 
and be dashed to pieces. Not the least danger was, 
that one of us might loosen a stone, which starting 
would draw down an avalanche of others, and our- 
selves with them. By looking up, zigzagging along 
the edges of the rocks, and bearing our weight equal- 
21* 



246 AN EARTHQUAKE. 

ly as possible on all parts of our bodies, we drew 
ourselves slowly up, until we were within ten feet of 
the top. Here we met with the ' unkindest cut of 
all.' The rock was the smoothest, and just at the 
rising of the brink, hot steam issued from it, making 
the earth scalding and slippery. Mr. C, being ahead, 
and blessed with the longest legs, managed, by bear- 
ing his whole weight upon a projecting point of rock, 
not three inches in diameter, to make a spring, and 
at the same time clawing into the soft earth, he 
reached the summit with only burnt fingers. He 
then laid down upon his back, with his arms over 
his head, clinging to roots, and dangled his legs over 
the precipice to assist me. Following his steps, I 
hitched myself up, and making a grab at his toes, 
was safely toed to the bank It was not until we 
were in perfect safety, that we realized the full extent 
of our danger, and our consummate folly in rush- 
ing into it. The slightest misstep, or want of pres- 
ence of mind, would have hurried us to immediate 
death ; and, while we felt grateful for our escape, 
we vowed another time, ' to look before we climbed.' 
In the excitement of visiting this wonderful phe- 
nomenon, its real dangers are overlooked, and many 
unnecessary risks undergone. No accident has as 
yet happened, but some escapes have been little short 
of miraculous. Two gentlemen, a number of years 
since, were in the heart of the crater, examining the 
burning cauldron, when a rumbling noise was heard, 
and an earthquake felt. The rocks began to rattle 
down the sides of the chasm, and the ground be- 
neath them was so unsteady, that they could not 



AN ESCAPE. 247 

leave the spot where they were. Providentially, it 
was slight, and soon over, and no eruption followed. 
In January, 1841, Dr. G. P. Judd descended the 
crater, for the purpose of procuring some of the liquid 
lava. Not being able to reach it at. the Great Lake, 
he ventured into a smaller one, at the bottom of 
which there was a small stream. It appeared very 
quiet, the banks were steep, and he found some 
difficulty in reaching it. Having obtained a frying-pan 
full, he had returned to within a few feet of its brink, 
the steepest part, when a roar and a hissing noise 
alarmed him ; a stream of lava in a narrow column 
was forced up into the air, far above his head, and 
descended in a shower all around. Much alarmed, 
he shouted for help. All of the natives near by ran 
away, except one, who threw himself upon his 
stomach, and, grasping the Doctor's hand, assisted 
him out. But, before this was accomplished, the 
lava rose so rapidly, that the heat from it burned his 
clothes, and blistered the face and hands of the na- 
tive. They were no sooner on their feet, than the 
lava overflowed, and they were obliged to run with 
all speed, to avoid being overtaken by the torrent. 
A narrower escape from a more horrible death, it is 
difficult to conceive. 

It is a common remark, that travellers visiting the 
volcano, even at short intervals, never see it under 
similr.r circumstances, and consequently are apt to 
discredit previous statements. A moment's reflec- 
tion should convince them, that with such a mighty 
engine of nature, exercising in their highest degree 
the combined powers of fire, heated air, and steam, 



248 DIFFERENT APPEARANCES OF THE CRATER. 

and continually in action, great changes are mo- 
mentarily liable to occur; and that they do, these very 
discrepances bear ample testimony. It would be an 
interesting point gained in geological science, if 
some observing man could reside in the neighbor- 
hood and note the various changes, at the periods of 
their occurrence. 

I have endeavored to present a faithful picture of 
it as it appeared at our visit, and it evidently 
differs much from all preceding descriptions. Doug- 
las makes the depth of the crater, in 1834, one thou- 
sand one hundred and fifty-seven feet. At the 
present time it had filled up one half, and the black 
ledge which had been gradually rising, was in some 
places, within three hundred feet of the top, while 
former accounts state it at eight hundred. A few 
years since, the basin was much in its present state, 
like the inside of a bowl. A foreigner who visited 
it a week only before the late eruption, described it 
as resembling a dome, there being a gradual ascent 
from the sides to the centre ; the lava having over- 
flowed the whole of the black ledge, the limits of 
which could not be traced. The whole surface was 
in violent action, thickly indented with fiery lakes, 
and crowned with puffing cones, and forges, whose 
bases were lashed by burning waves, and the whole 
accompanied with dreadful noises. Had not the 
liquid lava found a vent by pushing its way through 
subterranean galleries until it met with a weak spot, 
which its gravity soon forced through, and running 
out until the fiery mass in the crater subsided to a 
level with the outlet, it might have risen to the top, 



VOLCANIC ACTION. 249 

and overflowing, destroyed all that portion of the 
island. The immense lateral pressure which must 
exist, increasing as the crater fills up, will probably 
prevent any great and sudden disaster of this kind, 
by forcing an outlet toward the sea, as it did in this 
instance. Though so much has drained out, an im- 
mense body still remains in the volcano. On the 
second night of our stay, the fires were much more 
brilliant, and the reports more frequent. 

It is a remarkable fact, that on all the islands the 
general course of volcanic action is southeasterly, 
or rather, the craters form a chain from the north- 
west to the southeast. On Hawaii, Mauna Kea ap- 
pears to have been extinguished first, then Hualalai. 
Mauna Loa has probably fire still beneath, though it 
has gradually cooled down by forming a series of 
lateral craters, extending from the great one on its 
summit to Kilauea, which is now the great fountain 
head. Kilauea is pushing itself easterly, as the 
late eruption bears witness, and the whole earth in 
that direction is doubtless pierced with galleries, 
which carry off the superabundant lava ; and when 
the ground becomes too weak to bear the pressure, 
it forces its way to the surface, and flows until it 
creates a common level at Kilauea. The several 
eruptions can easily be traced towards the sea ; and 
a series of lateral craters also, some of considerable 
extent, which no doubt have been fed from Kilauea. 
One, six miles to the east, is a mile in diameter^ and 
emits smoke and sulphurous gases. 

It is a common remark, that Kauai is the oldest 
island, and that the others have been successively 



250 STRUCTURE OF HAWAII. 

thrown up from the ocean. In confirmation of this, 
we meet on that island a greater depih of soil, more 
vegetation, and far more arable land in proportion to 
its extent, than on the others, while at its south- 
eastern extremity only, exist two small craters. Age 
has reduced others (if such there were) to the level 
of the surrounding soil, or clothed them with forests, 
so that their limits are undistinguishable. On Oahu, 
the traces of volcanic action become more numerous, 
and the craters larger, while on Maui the principal 
one forms a mountain of ten thousand feet elevation. 
But it is not until we reach Hawaii, that this terrible 
agency assumes its grandest and most sublime forms. 
Of the age of this island we can only conjecture ; 
it may have been coeval with the flood, or have been 
formed since the christian era. Certainly no one 
can view the mighty ruins of nature, and the process 
of creation and destruction, as it were in perpetual 
contest, without realizing the truth of the transitory 
existence of this earth, and that the day may be not 
far distant when indeed * the elements shall melt 
with fervent heat.' Hawaii is fearful ground to tread 
upon. We are amazed at beholding the visible 
fires of Kilauea and their terrific action, but what 
are they, but a mere speck, in comparison with the 
immensity and power of the force required to raise 
up mountains of three miles perpendicular elevation, 
with bases of one thousand five hundred square 
leagues. Hawaii was formed by continual and re- 
peated eruptions, depositing layer of rock upon 
layer, until it attained its present elevation ; and for 
aught we know the same action is still going on, at 



HAWAII A VAST GLOBE OF FIRE. 251 

present quietly, but ready at any moment to burst 
out and overwhelm its unsuspecting inhabitants. 
There cannot be a doubt that to a great extent the 
interior of Hawaii is a vast globe of fire, against 
the sides of which the liquefied rocks dash their fiery 
spray, and roll with unceasing noise ; and were it 
not for the number and magnitude of its vents, it 
would be shaken to pieces by successive earthquakes. 
Those who live amid these scenes scarce bestow a 
thought upon the dangers which environ them. But 
Vesuvius after having been dormant for one thou- 
sand years, revived, and buried several cities in its 
devastating streams ; and the inhabitants of Catania, 
in Sicily, regarded as fables the historical accounts 
of previous eruptions of iEtna, until they were 
themselves overwhelmed in a sudden and instanta- 
neous destruction. In many places where volcanoes 
have become overgrown with wood, and covered 
even with elegant villas, they have with scarce a 
warning burst forth and laid waste whole districts, 
as in 1812, at St. Vincents, West Indies, where 
nearly all the plantations on that island were de- 
stroyed, the lava flowing so rapidly as to reach the 
sea in four hours. When this eruption took place, 
the earthquakes at Caracas, four hundred miles dis- 
tant, ceased, evidently showing that there was a con- 
nection between the two places. With such prece- 
dents it would certainly not be astonishing, if any 
of these craters, which are at present quiescent, 
should at any moment burst forth, and renew sim- 
ilar scenes of desolation ; and even Kauai may give 
vent by some submarine communication to the fires 
of Hawaii. 



252 THE GREAT MOUNTAIN. 

July 6. Although it was now midsummer, the 
weather continued cold and stormy. Upon assem- 
bling our men, we found them in a state of mutiny, 
refusing to go farther, and threatening to leave us 
instanter. The day before, we had been too much 
occupied in exploring to have a care for them, and 
they had availed themselves of the opportunity to 
devour the remainder of the food. For five days 
they had averaged eleven pounds' weight of fish and 
poi to each man ; a consumption which as many 
Esquimaux could not exceed. We had not antic- 
ipated vile ingratitude from kanakas on such a diet ; 
but so it proved, and we were obliged to forego the 
ascent of Maun a Loa, and proceed at once to Hilo. 

The ascent of Manna Loa was to us an object of 
great interest, in order to satisfy ourselves by actual 
observation of the accuracy of Douglas's account. In 
his journal he diners much from the statements made 
by himself in a letter to a friend in London. We 
give the extract as published in his Memoir: 

' The red -fared man, who cut off the limbs of men and gathered grass, 
is still known here; and the people say thai he climbed Ma una Loa. 
No one, however, has since done so, until I went up a short while 
ago.* The journey took me seventeen days. On the summit of 
this extraordinary mountain is a volcano, nearly twenty-four miles 
in circumference, and at present in terrific activity. You must not 
confound this with the one situated on the flanks of Ma una Loa, 
and spoken of by the missionaries and Lord Byron, and which I 
visited also. It is difficult to attempt describing such an immense 
place The spectator is lost in terror and admiration z\ beholding 
an enormous sunken pit, (for it differs from all our notions of vol- 
canoes, as possessing cone shaped summits with terminal openings,) 
five miles square of which is a lake of liquid fire, in a state of 
ebullition, sometimes tranquil, at other times rolling its blazin 0- 
waves with furious agitation, and casting them upwards in columns 
of from thirty to one hundred and seventy feet high. In places, the 
hardened lava assumes the form of gothic arches in a colossal 

*Mr. Goodrich, an American missionary, nseendad it previously to tliis 



Douglas's description. 253 



building, piled one above another in terrific magnificence, through 
and among which the fiery fluid forces its way in a current that 
proceeds three miles and a quarter per hour, or loses itself in fath- 
omless chasms at the bottom of the cauldron. This volcano is one 
thousand two hundred and seventy-two feet deep; I mean down to 
the surface of the fire ; its chasms and caverns can never be meas- 
ured. Mauna Loa appears, indeed, more like an elevated table-land 
than a mountain. It is a high, broad dome, formed by an infinitude 
of layers of volcanic matter, thrown out from the many mouths of 
its craters. Vegetation does not exist higher than eleven thousand 
feet ; there is no soil whatever, and no water. The lava is so po- 
rous that when the snow melts it disappears a few feet from the 
verge, the ground drinking it up like a sponge. On the higher 
parts grow some Rubus, Fraseria, Varcinium. and some Iunri. 

' I visited, also, the volcano of Kilauea, the lateral volcano of 
Mauna Loa; it is nearly nine miles round, one thousand one hun- 
dred feet deep, and is likewise in a state of terrific activity.' — Ha- 
waiian Spectator, Vol. II, No. 4. pp. 397, 398. 

'The summit of this extraordinary mountain is so flat, that from 
this point no part of the island can be seen, not even the high peaks 
of Mauna Kea, nor the distant horizon of the sea, though the sky 
was remarkably clear. It is a horizon of itself, and about seven 
miles in diameter. Leaving these three behind, and accompanied 
only by Calipio, I went on about two miles and a half, when the 
Great Terminal Volcano, or Cone of Mauna Loa, burst on my view. 
All my attempts to scale the black ledge were here ineffectual, as 
the fissures in the lava were so much concealed, though not pro- 
tected by the snow, that the undertaking was accompanied with 
great danger. Most reluctantly was I obliged to return, without 
being able to measure accurately its extraordinary depth. From 
this point I walked along upon the brink of the high ledge along 
the east side to the hump, so to speak, of the mountain ; the point, 
as seen from Mauna Kea, appears the highest. As I stood on the 
brink of ihe ledge, the wind whirled up from the cavity with such 
furious violence that I could hardly keep my footing within twenty 
paces of it. The circumference of the black ledge of the nearly 
circular crater, described as nearly as my circumstances would 
allow me to ascertain, is six miles and a quarter. The ancient crater 
has an extent of about twenty-four miles. The depth of the ledge 
from the highest part, (perpendicular station on the east.) by an 
accurate admeasurement with a line and plummet, is twelve hun- 
dred and seventy feet. It appears to have filled up considerably all 
round ; that part to the north of the circle seeming to have at no 
very remote period undergone the most violent activity, not by 
boiling and overflowing, not by discharging under ground, but by 
throwing ou* stones of immense size to the distance of miles 
around its opening, together with ashes and sand. Terrible chasms 
exist at the bottom, appearing in some places as if the mountain 
had been rent to its very roots; no termination can be seen to their 
depth, even when the eye is aided with a good glass, and the sky is 
clear of smoke, and the sun shining brightly. Fearful indeed must 
the spectacle have been when this volcano w r as in a state of activ- 
ity. The part to the south of the circle, where the outlet of the 



254 ITS ERRORS AND INCONSISTENCIES. 

lava has evidently been, must have enjoyed a long period of repose. 
Were it not for the dykes on the west end, which show the extent 
of the ancient cauldron, and the direction of the lava, together with 
its proximity to the existing volcano, there is little to arrest the 
eye of the naturalist over the greater portion of this huge dome, 
which is a gigantic mass of slag and scoriae and ashes.' — Hawaiian 
Spectator, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 423, 424. 

In Vol. I, No. 2, page 99, of the Hawaiian Spec- 
tator, we find a similar account, extracted from his 
'correspondence,' with this addition: '-There is no 
smoke.'' Yet, on page 108, in the same volume, he 
says, in a letter to a lady in Oahu : ' Yon may pledge 
my name for saying, that the Great Crater is on the 
very summit of Mauna Kea, (he probably means 
Mauna Loa,) at present in an active state. It is 
twenty-seven miles round, and one thousand two 
hundred and seventy feet deep.' Singular enough, 
that a crater of this extent, and active, should emit 
no smoke. He also adds here three miles to the cir- 
cumference, which, one would think, was already 
sufficiently large at twenty-four miles. He appears 
also to be singularly unhappy in his mathematical 
estimates. After giving the summit of this moun- 
tain a diameter of seven miles, and calling it a hori- 
zon by itself, he walks two and a half miles farlher, 
and discovers a Great Terminal Volcano, of twenty- 
seven miles circumference, or nine in diameter; thus 
exceeding his previous assertion, by four and a half 
miles. It is rather difficult to conceive how he could 
measure, accurately, with a line and plumb, the depth 
of the ledge, when the wind whirled up from its 
brink with such furious violence, that he could 
hardly stand, ' twenty paces from it.' Even at Ki- 
lauea, with half the depth, and to the eye a perpen- 



ITS ERRORS AND INCONSISTENCIES. 255 

dicular pali, one cannot throw a stone so as to reach 
the black ledge; and this must certainly have been 
perfectly perpendicular, to have allowed a person^ 
setting aside the wind, to have dropped a lead one 
thousand two hundred and seventy feet, and to dis- 
tinguish it, when it reached the bottom. In the let- 
ter to his London friend, he makes the depth to the 
surface of the fire, one thousand two hundred and 
seventy-two feet. The heat arising from a lake of 
liquid fire, five miles square, 'in a state of ebullition, 
lolling its blazing waves,' &c, would, with most lead 
and twine, have operated as a serious impediment to 
their arriving at the surface in their original state, 
though their component parts might reach it with 
the greatest facility ; but physical difficulties, or even 
impossibilities, seem to have been surmounted by 
him, with rather more ease than by most mortals. 
We found the heat exceedingly uncomfortable from 
the lake at Kilauea, two hundred and fifty feet above 
and at least seven hundred feet in a direct line from 
it. Even admitting the truth of these statements, 
and that he saw and performed all this, how can the 
fact, of twenty-five square miles of 'liquid fire,' in 
'furious agitation, and casting upwards columns of 
from thirty to one hundred and seventy feet high,' 
with a 'fiery fluid forcing its way in a current that 
proceeds three miles and a quarter per hour,' and the 
remainder of this description, be reconciled with the 
passage in his journal, where he says, ' Were it not 
for the dykes on the west end, which show the extent 
of the ancient cauldron, and the direction of the lava, 
together with its proximity to the existing volcano, 



256 ITS ERRORS AND INCONSISTENCIES. 

there is but little to attract the eye of the naturalist, 
over the greater portion of this huge dome, which is 
a gigantic mass of slag, scoria?, and ashes.' By the 
' existing volcano,' he evidently means Kilauea, as he 
everywhere speaks of JMauna Loa as a ' huge dome ;' 
and certainly a crater of twenty-seven miles in cir- 
cumference would be any thing but a small portion 
of its surface, and in so active a state, it would not 
only attract naturalists, but the whole world. The 
inhabitants of Hawaii, at least, would find reason to 
be particularly interested in it, and yet it is totally 
unknown to them. Did such exist, its light could be 
seen at the farthest extremity of the group ; its fires 
would shake the island to its centre ; while its noises 
would appall the stoutest heart. Kilauea is consid- 
ered the largest volcano in the world;* yet, in its 
most active state, it has never shown a tenth part of 
the superficial extent of liquid fire ascribed to Maun a 
Loa. Vesuvius, of scarcely a sixth the size of Kil- 
auea, in 472, ejected ashes, (so Procopius states,) 
that reached Constantinople, a distance of upwards 
of seven hundred miles. These examples serve to 
give a faint idea of what would be the effects of a 
volcano so prodigiously surpassing all others, and in 
a s 1 ate of 'terrific activity.' 

The preceding extracts show the great inconsis- 
tencies Douglas was guilty of; and if we give cred- 
ence to his journal, as the most probable, one is 



* ' I say unparalleled, because, having visited most of the European 
and American volcanoes, I find the greatest of them inferior to the 
Kilauea crater, in intensity, grandeur, and extent or area.' — Haw. 
Spec, Vol. I, p. 435. Count Strzelecki. 



MAUNA LOA. 257 

tempted to inquire, what could induce a man of his 
scientific attainments, to risk his reputation on such 
a fabulous account to his friend? When he says, 
p. 424, ' Fearful indeed must the spectacle have been, 
when this volcano was in a stale of activity,' his 
description might have referred to that period ; and 
if we view it as a mere sketch drawn from his im- 
agination, it is truly graphic, though improbable ; but 
the explicitness and minuteness of detail in the let- 
ter, leave no room for such a supposition. His words 
are, ' at present in terrific activity.' 

The guide, who accompanied him to the summit, 
resides at Hilo, and has since conducted two other 
travellers, at distinct periods, to the very spot where 
these observations are said to have been made. He 
states, that at both of these visits, it appeared the 
same as when Douglas was there, merely a little 
smoke issuing from some of the fissures. The rest 
was a great pit, probably much the same as Kilauea 
would appear, if it were emptied of lava. It has 
been in action as late as July, 1832, when it shot up 
a light for several nights, of sufficient brightness to 
be distinguished one hundred and ten miles; and it 
may burst forth again, at no distant period ; but 
whatever may be its real state, it certainly possesses 
interest enough to induce some scientific individual 
to give it a thorough investigation. 

It may be considered as uncharitable to thus crit- 
icise the dead ; but it is certainly due to truth and 
science to rectify error. Those who read Douglas's 
Memoir abroad, and are wholly unacquainted with 
the localities mentioned therein, and the nature of 
22 # 



258 LEAVE FOR IIILO. 

volcanic action, would scarcely notice these discrep- 
ances, but regard him as a traveller of great re- 
search, and one whose labors should justly immor- 
talize him. This opinion would doubtless be con- 
firmed by finding it republished in the Hawaiian 
Spectator, almost upon the very spot of his researches, 
wiihout note or comment of any kind. 

Douglas unfortunately did not live to publish his 
journal himself, and perhaps much of its ambiguity 
is owing to this circumstance. He was killed by a 
wild-bullock, on the north side of the island, in July 
of 1834. 

On Monday morning, at seven o'clock, we gazed 
our farewell to Pele's domains, and, amid a smart 
shower, started for Hilo. The path was to the east- 
northeast, a good road, and through, or rather mostly 
skirting, a very pretty forest, with a greater depth of 
soil than we had previously met with. The descent 
was so gradual as to be hardly perceptible; and 
after a brisk walk of eleven miles, we came in sight 
of the smoke and flames arising from the new streams 
of lava. They were about twelve miles east of us. 
At noon we arrived at Olaa, a neat little hamlet upon 
the*bordcr of the wood, with considerable cultivation 
about it. The population ran out to greet us, prof- 
fering every hospitality, and urging us to pass the 
night at the head-man's house, where we had stopped. 
Being anxious to arrive at Hilo, we declined this in- 
vitation, but consented to the application of the lomi- 
lomi, and soon were stretched out upon the mats, 
with a dozen little urchins zealously fisting, pinch- 
ing, squeezing, and kneading, our travel-worn limbs. 



AN OVER-SHARP LANDLORD. 259 

Here let me whisper in the ear of any traveller, who 
may find himself, at the end of a day's journey, with 
stiff and wearied nether members, to select a couple 
of youngsters with very sharp elboics, with which, 
for the consideration of a jewsharp or so, they will 
most effectually furrow his outer man, while he is 
replenishing the inner. I speak feelingly ; it is the 
very acme of a pedestrian's happiness ; and it had 
such a wonderful effect upon us, that after a short 
debate it was unanimously moved and carried that 
we should pass the night here, provided the neces- 
saries for a feast could be obtained. At this the eyes 
of the natives sparkled with delight; and so did ours 
at the list of eatables which they were ready to pro- 
vide instantly. But we were too old campaigners 
not to inquire the price of all this kindness, especially 
as some suspicions that all this zeal was not pure 
disinterestedness began to arise. I will not record 
the answer of our host, for fear of being charged with 
a conspiracy to destroy his credit as keeper of the 
\ half-way house ; ' but it caused the lame to jump, 
and the bellies of the hungry to be filled, not with 
luaued pig, in visions of which we had just been lux- 
uriating, but brimful of wrath, minus the cabbage. 
Two hours had been spent here, and after giving our 
Boniface some valuable advice in regard to his fu- 
ture charges, should any others ever be so unfortu- 
nate as to partake of his hospitality, we left. The 
dudgeon which filled our indignant selves was as 
good as so much high-pressure steam, and carried us 
along with rather more speed than we should have 
been able to accomplish, had we been filled with 
any thing more substantial, 



260 guide's trick. — arrival at hilo. 

The path led to the north, with the ocean in sight, 
and the country more open. At night we saw a neat 
but small house at a short distance, and proposed 
stopping there ; but our natives said there was a large 
one, where plenty of provisions could be obtained, a 
short distance farther on. It was quite dark when 
we arrived, and their description was true to life. It 
was nearly if not quite as large as ' all-out-doors,' 
the distinction between the interior and exterior not 
being remarkably well defined ; and for provisions, 
there were abundance of pigs, dogs, and poultry, on 
terms of most perfect intimacy with their owners. 
It was a filthy hovel, and its inmates, amounting to 
twenty or so nearly naked natives' of both sexes, the 
shabbiest I had ever seen. However, it being too 
late to retrace our steps, we devoured a young pig, 
begged a mat, and fatigue (having walked twenty- 
five miles) soon wrapped us in a slumber, which 
neither the furious attacks of fleas, or swinish noises 
around us, could break. In the morning we learned 
that our honest guides had slept at the former house, 
where they had been feasted with the fat of the land, 
after having had the cool impudence to recommend 
our pushing on to the next. Our lodging-place w T as 
on the outskirts of a dense forest, four miles in width, 
through which passed a road made of the trunks of 
ferns, after the corduroy fashion. Three miles far- 
ther walk brought us to Hilo village, where we were 
most hospitably received and entertained by the mis- 
sionaries, and an old friend settled there; that is, as 
soon as we could be identified — no easy job, through 
the grime of such a jaunt, much of the time in rain 
and mud, and with a fortnight's unshaven chin. 



SITUATION AND NATURAL BEAUTIES. 261 

Ililo, or Byron Bay, merits all that has been said 
in praise of its beauty and situation. The bay faces 
the north, and, on two sides, is lined by a fine sand- 
beach, prettily bordered by cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, 
and other trees. The coast swells gradually inland, 
at times presenting hills of considerable magnitude, 
three of which, a mile from the shore, are particular 
objects of attraction. They are ancient craters, very 
uniform and regular in size and shape, truncated, 
and covered with a fine greensward. The view 
from the sea is more beautifully picturesque than 
sublime. Of a clear day, the snowy peaks of Mauna 
Kea, with its brown sides, are to be seen rising ab- 
ruptly from the plain, and, in the background, the 
dome of Mauna Loa, and the smoke of Kilauea, are 
distinctly visible. All the back-country is well wood- 
ed and watered, while towards the sea, houses and 
gardens, trees and small streams, dell and grove, 
are grouped in pleasing confusion. The soil is 
luxuriantly verdant, and its depth and richness favor- 
able to all tropical productions. The bay forms an 
excellent harbor, protected from the surf by a reef 
and bar, which makes nearly across, and it has good 
holding ground. Ships can lay close in, without 
danger, and, with proper encouragement from gov- 
ernment, Hilo might become a rich and populous 
district. The best of water is obtained, with the 
greatest facility, at the Wailuku, or river of destruc- 
tion, a romantic stream, which empties itself into the 
bay near the anchorage, and derives its name from 
the number of persons who have perished in its 
rapids. A short distance from its mouth there is a 



262 PRODUCTIONS OF HiLO. 

fine cataract, tumbling over a precipice sixty feet in 
height, into a deep and craggy basin beneath, which 
was formerly the interior of a crater, through the rent 
side of which the stream now forces its way. It is 
called the ' cascade of the rainbow.' 

The population of the district of Hilo is nearly 
eight thousand. A store has been recently establish- 
ed at the village, much to the benefit of the natives, 
in affording them a market for their produce, and 
foreign goods in return. A spirit of enterprise has 
been developing, which, no doubt, will soon make 
this place the garden of Hawaii; but it is here as 
elsewhere, through the influence of foreigners, that a 
belter day appears to be dawning upon these islands. 
In 1840 the exports from Hilo amounted to two 
hundred thousand shingles, a considerable quantity 
of Koa lumber, forty or fifty tons of sugar, and one 
hundred and fifty tons of arrow root. Seven miles 
inland there is a saw-mill, which, when water is 
abundant, can saw from six to eight hundred feet of 
boards per day. Two sugar mills, by water power, 
capable of grinding from four hundred to six hun- 
dred pounds each, per day, have been recently 
erected, and are expected to turn, out two hundred 
tons of sugar annually. That which has been made 
the past year, at the Chinaman's mills, has a dis- 
agreeable flavor, and lacks grain. 

The climate of Hilo is particularly favorable to 
agricultural operations. Regular land and sea breezes 
prevail, which give a very delightful temperature, 
tempering the noon-day heat, and rendering the 
nights cool and bracing. It has formerly been con- 



PRODUCTIONS OF HILO. 263 

sidered as obnoxious to continual rains, but the resi- 
dents state, that within the last four years a great 
change has taken place in that respect, and that now 
much less falls ; indeed, no more than is necessary 
to preserve its fruitfulness. Orange trees do not 
flourish, but the mango, chirimoya, fig, strawberry, 
and many other fruits, grow thriftily. Corn, mul- 
berry, and sugar-cane do excellently well, but the 
plant which seems to thrive the best, and is destined 
to become the principal export, is coffee. The ex- 
pense of raising it is trifling, compared with silk, or 
sugar. It grows most luxuriantly, and the branches 
of the trees, then in fruit, were bent to the earth by 
its weight. Mature trees have produced ten pounds 
apiece, which is an enormous product, compared 
with most coffee countries. In Brazil, and the West 
Indies, three to four pounds to the tree is considered 
as a great crop. There are now several plantations 
of the berry, which have commenced bearing. The 
shrubs are planted in rows, and shaded by banana 
plants. The strong trade-wind, which almost every- 
where else on the islands operales as a serious im- 
pediment to the growth of plants, is here neutralized 
by the land breezes, and the neighboring mountains. 
A pleasant wine has been made from the wild 
raspberries of the mountains. 

The mission-houses, three in number, are pleas- 
antly situated near each other, a quarter of a mile 
from the beach. That built by Mr. Goodrich is of 
two stories, painted red, and an exact model of one 
of our yankee farm-houses in New England. In- 
deed, it looked as if it had been transplanted to its 



264 BOARDING-SCHOOL. 

present situation, from the country of frost and snow, 
and forms quite a singular object, half hid by the 
deep foliage of the oriental lilach, mango, and bread- 
fruit trees. Rev. Mr. Lyman has a boarding-school, 
of from fifty to sixty boys, the brightest of whom are 
sent, annually, to the high-school at Maui. They 
partly support themselves by their labor ; all are 
neatly clothed, and their whole appearance reflects 
great credit upon their instructors. They are lodged 
in a large, thatched, two-story building. The lower 
part is the school-room, and the upper is divided, by 
mat partitions, into numerous chambers, for sleeping 
apartments. Besides this, there is another house, of 
the same size, where they eat, after a civilized man- 
ner. They are allowed meats as often as they can 
be procured. For the sick there is a separate build- 
ing, where they can be retired from the noise of the 
school, and have such attention as their wants re- 
quire. Mrs. Coan supports a smaller school, for 
girls, upon much the same plan. 

Wednesday, 8th of July. Having engaged a new 
set of men, we left Hilo, at noon, in company wilh 
Rev. Mr. Lyman, to explore the site of the recent 
eruption. This company were hired with the stipu- 
lation that they should find their own food — a prac- 
tice we recommend to all who wish to travel expe- 
ditiously, and without annoyance. The distinction 
between menm and tuvm was never more palpably 
manifested than in this instance. The whole amount 
of food which our three men took with them, for as 
many days, would not have sufficed one of our for- 
mer gang more than one day ; and throughout the 



ERUPTION OF THE CRATER. 265 

excursion we had as much reason to be satisfied 
with these men, as we had to be dissatisfied with the 
others. Higher praise than this could not be award- 
ed them. 

After retracing our steps on the road to the volca- 
no for ten miles, we diverged to the southeast, upon 
what is called the middle Puna road. After travel- 
ling a few miles we reached a small hamlet. The 
best hut was given us for our sleeping-apartment, to 
which we soon retired, while our clerical friend held 
a religious meeting in a neighboring house. Early 
next morning we continued our route over a coun- 
try much broken up by lava streams, smooth at iheir 
surface, and partially covered with a light soil, sup- 
porting a scanty forest of stunted ohias, of a species 
which bore no fruit. At twelve o'clock, when about 
twenty-five miles from Hilo, we came upon the first 
traces of the devastations of the burning torrent. 
The grass was killed, and vegetation all blasted. 
Continuing our walk, for a mile, through a wood 
filled with smoke, and smelling strongly of sulphur, 
and in which all signs of life were destroyed, the 
trees crisped and blackened by heat, while some 
had fallen, like mown grass, we struck suddenly 
upon the great stream of lava which had caused all 
this destruction. Its course was to the northeast, 
having forced its way through a dense body of tim- 
ber, burning and destroying all before it. On its 
outer edges it had cooled so suddenly, upon its sur- 
face, as to leave the charred limbs of many trees un- 
consumed, though smoking freely. They were 
thickly strewed, for many miles, and formed an al- 
23 



266 



ERUPTION, 



most impenetrable chevaux de frise. They lay most- 
ly around the smooth holes which their trunks had 
formed, when the liquid mass consolidated about 
them; all beneath the surface, of course, being en- 
tirely consumed, and leaving no traces, except a few 
ashes. The lava was swollen up in cones, and 
forges, split into deep chasms, and twisted and crack- 
ed into every variety of shape, resulting, probably, 
from its suddenly cooling and contracting. The 
crevices were lined with the most beautiful and del- 
icate forms of salt and sulphur, of all the hues of the 
rainbow. Fresh specimens were continually consol- 
idating, from the strong gases which everywhere 
jetted out. They effloresced, upon exposure to the 
atmosphere. From every aperture, steam, smoke, 
and sulphurous vapors issued, so dense and strong, 
that, while it required the greatest caution to avoid 
their suffocating currents, they prevented us from 
distinctly seeing any distance. The surface was 
still so hot as to be painful to the feet, while, in many 
places beneath us, the gurgling, crackling sound of 
flowing lava, gave warning that the treacherous fluid 
was still moving underneath. The crust being 
puffed up by bubbles of air, and extremely brittle, 
frequently gave way, without the slightest warning 
precipitating us several feet before w T e found solid 
footing. 

We had supposed that we should reach ihe stream 
somewhere about its source, but we found ourselves 
at most, not more than mid-way from the shore. 
Mile upon mile of the same dismal prospect of jag- 
ged lava, flame, and smoke, could be traced inland. 



ERUPTION. 267 

and after an hour's exploring, over the hot clinkers 
where we were, we found ourselves too much ex- 
hausted by the intense heat and fatiguing clamber- 
ing, to attempt to follow the stream further up ; be- 
sides, it was far from being prudent, in its present 
state. The thermometer, three feet above the lava, 
rose to one hundred and fifty-two degrees, and in the 
clefts it was too hot to try it. We estimated its 
width, where we first struck upon it, at upwards of a 
mile. The lava everywhere appeared to be of uni- 
form character, and presented the same appearance, 
being full of glittering crystals of pyroxine and 
olivine. 

Turning back, we gained the edge of the woods, 
and then followed the stream towards the ocean in a 
northerly direction, where it gradually widened until 
it acquired a width of six miles, forming a sea of 
huge, black, solidified waves. On its sides, it fre- 
quently forced its way under ground, by galleries, 
throwing up the soil in rugged hills, from ten to 
fifteen feet high, then issuing to the surface again at 
a considerable distance from its ingress. As we 
approached the sea, volcanic sand showed itself in 
greater quantities, covering the soil and trees to the 
distance of half a mile from the stream. The spiral 
branches of the Pandanus were loaded with it; and 
near the ocean it formed beds of several feet in thick- 
ness, making smooth walking where formerly it was 
rough in the extreme. This sand is of the same 
substance as the lava, and was probably formed 
when the stream reached the water, by the great con- 
cussion and reaction of the two opposite forces. 



268 SULPHUROUS GASES. 

The lava cooling suddenly, shivered like glass, into 
millions of small particles, which the strong trade 
wind drove back upon the country. 

After skirting the stream for several miles, we 
turned to the left, and at five o'clock, P. M., arrived 
at the sea, at a very romantic spot, called Waiaka- 
kuila. A chief's house, then deserted, situated in a 
fine grove of cocoa-nut, hala, and hau trees, afforded 
us good accommodations for the night. The surf 
broke upon a precipice but a few rods distant, and 
near by was a spring, which, (lowing into a rocky 
basin, formed an excellent bathing-place. 

A mile to the east of us, at Nanawale, the lava 
had entered the sea, and was throwing up steam and 
smoke so furiously, that it had every appearance of 
a new crater. Hastening to it, we found it presented 
the same appearance as above, except that it had 
overflowed the old line of coast, and pushed itself 
fifteen hundred feet or more into the sea, forming 
three bold promontories, or crater-shaped hills, parallel 
to each other, and a few hundred feet apart. Between 
these the lava flowed a short distance beyond. These 
hills were formed of scoria?, sand, and ashes, precipi- 
tous towards the sea, and sloping gradually inland. 
Fumes of steam were issuing from their summits, 
which were from two hundred to three hundred feet 
high. Towards the sea, their sides were still so hot 
as to form vapor at every wash of the waves. Be- 
tween them, the sulphurous gases were dense and 
choking, occasioning immediate nausea and giddi- 
ness, on approaching them, unless to ihe windward. 
In a few places the old rock, whitened and split by 



BEAUTIFUL APPEARANCE OF THE LAVA, 269 

heat, appeared through the new. A solitary Panda- 
nus, scorched and burnt, still stood upright, overlook- 
ing the scene of desolation. Two beaches of volcanic 
sand, forming excellent landing-places, were thrown 
up, where previously there was nothing but the bold 
rock. The largest is on the north of the hills, and 
about one hundred yards in length ; the other lies at 
the farther extremity of the lava, and is but a few 
rods long. Neither will probably be permanent. 
The width of the stream here is two thousand feet. 
From the loftiest of the hills, an excellent view of 
the course of the stream was obtained. Its widen- 
ings and windings can be traced inland for a great 
distance. At sunset, with its dark surface, and broad 
descending stream, covered with wood and smoke, 
and broken or turned aside at times, leaving small 
spots of land untouched and overgrown with now 
lifeless trees, it forcibly recalled to my mind the Mis- 
sissippi at its rising in spring. It resembled a vast 
river, which had overflowed its banks, flowing slug- 
gishly onward, and bearing on its bosom the wrecks 
of vegetation. The smoke was not at all dissimilar 
to fog. As the sun went down, it threw a dim glare 
over the whole, which added much to the effect. 
Night surprised us while still engaged amid the thou- 
sand and one wonders around, and we were com- 
pelled to hasten to our lodging-place ; but not until 
we had secured specimens of all the varieties of lava, 
which, however, did not differ from those observed 
elsewhere on the stream. The tints and forms of 
some of the salts, incrusting the hollows of the rocks, 
were exceedingly minute and beautiful, closely resem* 
23* 



270 FIRST OUTBREAK. 

bling the flowers of some of the most delicate species 
of moss. It was impossible to preserve them, for 
upon exposure to the air, they dissolved like snow, 
leaving a yellow, red, or green precipitate. 

Such was the appearance of this stream of lava, 
six weeks after it commenced flowing. On the 30th 
of May previous, the inhabitants of the district de- 
tected a smoke and some fire rising, in the direction 
of the volcano. As it proceeded from an uninhab- 
ited and desolate region, they gave themselves no 
further concern about it, attributing it to the burning 
of brush-wood. The next day, being Sunday, the 
several congregations at Hilo and its vicinity, were 
alarmed by the prodigious increase of the flames, in 
that quarter. They increased so rapidly as to leave 
no doubt that the volcano was in motion; but in 
what manner it was discharging itself, was as yet 
conjecture. The fiery column, sending forth heavy 
masses of smoke and cinders, gave indication that it 
was no ordinary outbreak. Fear began to seize upon 
some. The burning torrent was four thousand feet 
above them ; and if it turned in the direction of Hilo, 
the devastation would be dreadful. But on the 1st 
of June it began to move in a northeasterly direction ; 
and in little short of four days reached the sea, hav- 
ing flowed forty miles from its source. Owing to 
the inequalities of the country, the rapidity of its 
movement was not uniform. In some places it was 
stayed for a considerable time, until a valley had 
been filled up, or precipice overthrown. In such 
spots it spread itself into lakes many miles wide. 
On level ground it moved slowly and sluggishly, but 



PROGRESS OF THE STREAM. 271 

when it met with a descent, it acquired a velocity of 
even five miles the hour, consuming every thing 
before it. Its depth varied according to the nature 
of the soil, and is from twelve to two hundred feet 
and upwards. The average descent of the country 
in the direction it took, is about one hundred feet to 
the mile. Its general movement, owing to its great 
consistency, was in immense semi-circular masses or 
waves. These would roll on, gradually accumulating, 
until the mass had become too heavy to hold itself 
together, while the exterior was partially cooled and 
solidified ; then bursting, the liquefied interior flowing 
out would join a new stream, and by its momentum 
cleave that asunder. By these accelerated progres- 
sive movements, the wave-like ridges were formed, 
which are everywhere observable on the older 
dykes. At times, it forced its way under the soil, pre- 
senting the singular appearance of earth, rocks, and 
trees in motion, like the swell of the ocean. It found its 
way into crevices and subterranean galleries, flowing 
on until it had filled them up, or met with some im- 
pediment, then bursting up the superincumbent soil, 
it bore off upon its livid surface, like rafts on a river, 
hillocks with trees still standing upon them ; and so 
great was its viscidity, heavy rocks floated down with 
the stream. A white man, who was standing upon 
a small lime hill, near the main stream, absorbed by 
the spectacle, felt the ground beneath him in motion, 
and, before he could retire, it had been raised ten to 
fifteen feet above its former height. He had barely 
left the spot before it burst open like a shell, and a 
torrent of fire issued rapidly forth. On the third day 



272 DESTRUCTION. 

of the eruption, three new hills of a mile in length, 
and from six hundred to eight hundred feet high, 
were formed in the direction where the fire first 
appeared. In two days they had entirely disappeared. 
To the windward, the running lava could be ap- 
proached, near enough for those who visited it to 
thrust long poles into the liquefied rock, and draw 
forth specimens. On the leeward side, owing to the 
intensity of the heat, the noxious and deadly vapors 
and gases, with which the air was impregnated, and 
the showers of hot ashes, sand, and cinders, which 
were constantly descending, all vegetation for many 
miles was destroyed, and the inhabitants obliged to 
flee with the greatest expedition. Fortunately, the 
stream flowed through two 'lands' only, according 
to the Hawaiian division of territory, those of Nana- 
wale and Kanahikio ; both sparsely populated, and 
quite barren. Consequently, the warning being 
ample, allhough a number of small hamlets were 
overwhelmed, and a multitude of swine and poullry 
perished, no lives were lost among the people. The 
body of an old woman, who had just died, was con- 
sumed. The color of the viscid mass was, while 
flowing sluggishly, of the deepest crimson ; when 
more active, it resembled gore and fresh blood vio- 
lently stirred together. At Hilo, and places forty 
miles distant, such was the brilliancy of the light, 
that the finest print could be easily read at midnight. 
This noon-tide brightness, converting night into day, 
prevailed over all East- Hawaii, for two weeks, and 
is represented, by eye-witnesses, to have been a spec- 
tacle of unsurpassed sublimity. It was like the glare 



THE OCEAN AND VOLCANO IN STRIFE. 273 

of a blazing firmament, and was seen for upwards of 
a hundred miles at sea. It also rose and spread itself 
above the lofty mountain peaks, so as to be distinctly 
visible on the leeward side of the island, where the 
wind drove the smoke in dense and massy clouds. 

When the torrent of fire precipitated itself into the 
ocean, the scene assumed a character of terrific . and 
indescribable grandeur. The magnificence of de- 
struction was never more perceptibly displayed, than 
when these antagonistic elements met in deadly 
strife. The mightiest of earlh's magazines of fire 
poured forth its burning billows to meet the 
mightiest of ocean's. For two-score miles it came, 
rolling, tumbling, swelling forward, an awful agent 
of death. Rocks melted like wax in its path ; forests 
crackled and blazed before its fervent heat ; the very 
hills were lifted from their primeval beds, and sank be- 
neath its tide, or were borne onward by its waves ; the 
works of man were to it but as a scroll in the flames ; 
nature shrivelled and trembled before the irresistible 
flow. Imagine Niagara's stream, above the brink of 
the falls, with its dashing, whirling, tossing, and 
eddying rapids, madly raging and hurrying on to 
their plunge, instantaneously converted into fire, a 
gory-hued river of fused minerals ; the wrecks of 
creative matter blazing and disappearing beneath its 
surface ; volumes of hissing steam arising ; smokes 
curling upwards from ten thousand vents, which give 
utterance to as many deep-toned mutterings, and 
sullen, confined, and ominous clamorings, as if the 
spirits of fallen demons were struggling against their 
final doom ; gases detonating and shrieking as they 



274 A SUBLIME SPECTACLE. 

burst from their hot prison-house ; the heavens lurid 
with name ; the atmosphere dark, turgid, and op- 
pressive ; the horizon murky with vapors, and gleam- 
ing with the reflected contest ; while cave and hollow, 
as the hot air swept along their heated walls, threw 
back the unearthly sounds, in a myriad of prolonged 
echoes. Such was the scene, as the fiery cataract, 
leaping a precipice of fifty feet, poured its flood upon 
the ocean. The old line of coast, a mass of compact, 
indurated lava, whitened, cracked, and fell. The 
waters recoiled, and senl forth a tempest of spray ; 
they foamed and lashed around and over the melted 
rock ; they boiled with the heat, and the roar of the 
conflicting agencies grew fiercer and louder. The 
reports of the exploding gases were distinctly heard 
twenty-five miles distant. They were likened to dis- 
charges of whole broadsides of heavy arlillery. 
Streaks of the intensest light glanced like lightning 
in all directions ; the outskirts of the burning lava as 
it fell, cooled by the shock, was shivered into millions 
of fragments, and, borne aloft by strong breezes blow- 
ing towards the land, were scattered in scintillant 
showers far into the country. For three successive 
weeks, the volcano disgorged an uninterrupted burn- 
ing tide, with scarcely any diminution, into the ocean. 
On either side, for twenty miles, the sea became 
heated, and with such rapidity, that on the second 
day of the junction fishes came ashore dead in great 
numbers at Keaau, fifteen miles distant. Six weeks 
later, at the base of the hills, the water continued 
scalding hot, and sent forth steam at every wash of 
the waves. 



ECCENTRIC COURSE OF THE STREAM. 275 

The general direction of the stream is northeast, 
varying from north to east. Lava, upon exposure to 
the atmosphere, cools with the rapidity of glass ; but 
when confined, and in large masses, retains its heat 
for years. 

Mr. Coan, a missionary at Hilo, was the first to 
explore the stream to its source. In an exceedingly 
interesting letter to the American Board, he states, 
that he discovered it ' in a forest, and in the bottom of 
an ancient wooded crater, about four hundred feet 
deep, and probably eight miles east of Kilauea. The 
region, being uninhabited, and covered with a thick- 
et, it was some time before the place was discovered, 
and up to this time, though several foreigners have 
attempted it, no one, except myself, has reached •the 
spot. From Kilauea to the place, the lava flows in 
a subterranean gallery, probably at the depth of a 
thousand feet ; but its course can be distinctly traced 
all the way, by the rending of the crust of the earth 
into innumerable fissures, and by the emission of 
smoke, steam, and gases. The eruption in this old 
crater is small, and from this place the stream disap- 
pears again for the distance of a mile or two, when 
the lava again gushed up, and spread over an area 
of about fifty acres. Again it passes under ground 
for two or three miles, when it reappears in another 
old wooded crater, consuming the forest, and partly 
filling up the basin. Once more it disappears, and, 
flowing in a subterranean channel, cracks and breaks 
the earth, opening fissures from six inches to ten and 
twelve feet in width, and sometimes uplifting the 
trunk of a tree so exactly, that its legs stand astride 



276 EFFECTS. 

at the fissure. At some places it is impossible to 
trace the subterranean stream, on account of the im- 
penetrable thickets under which it passes. After 
flowing under ground several miles, perhaps six or 
eight, it again breaks out like an overwhelming 
flood.' ' In some places,' he states, ' the molten 
stream parted and flowed in separate channels, for a 
considerable distance, and then reuniting, formed 
islands of various sizes, from one to fifty acres, with 
trees still standing, but seared and blighted with the 
intense heat.' 

This eruption, in point of magnitude, has seldom 
been surpassed. The most extensive on record is 
that of Mount Hccla, in 1783, which formed a current 
twenty leagues in length by four in breadth, an ex- 
tent which, however, is, I think, exceeded in several 
places on this island. The largest current which has 
ever issued from Vesuvius is about eleven miles 
long; one from zEina, in 1778, was somewhat 
greater. Three years before this last eruption, smoke 
and steam were seen issuing from near where it first 
burst forth, and a year later a huge rent was made in 
the ground, and all the springs in the vicinity dried up. 

It is remarkable, that during this eruption, with the 
exception of some trivial shocks near the immediate 
scene of action, no earthquakes occurred ; from which 
it would appear to have been the efTect of no sudden 
and violent commotion, but one of long and gradual 
preparation. Kilauea was drained to the depth of 
several hundred feet. 

The effect upon the natives was somewhat various. 
With some, it revived their superstitious fears, and 



, RETURN TO HILO. 277 

perhaps adoration was again, though covertly, paid 
to Pele. Some considered her as enraged at the 
neglect of her worship, and desired to propitiate the 
offended goddess. Others attributed it to the agency 
of the spirit of some powerful, departed chief. Many 
spent much time in prayer to Jehovah, and in reli- 
gious meetings ; a few fled in consternation, while the 
majority manifested a leaden apathy. Neither fear, nor 
curiosity, nor any sentient faculty, seemed to arouse 
them. They either gazed listlessly upon the devouring 
flood, wandering along its margin, and coolly noting 
its progress from day to day, or stoically pursued 
their usual avocations, within sight and hearing of 
the phenomenon, regardless of the burning showers, 
and its near approach. Apparently, they were as 
callous to all sentiment as the melting rock itself. 
Indeed, a great number of the population are equally 
as indifferent to death, come in what form it may ; 
and the dreadful pictures which have so often been 
drawn in missionary sermons in the United States, 
of the horrors and remorse attending the death-bed 
scenes of a heathen or half-converted Polynesian, are 
as fictitious as the travels of Gulliver. They have no 
place in reality. 

On the 10th of July, having received notice that 
the vessel, in which we were to embark for Oahu was 
awaiting our arrival at Hilo, we once more directed 
our steps towards that place. Our course was along 
the shore, which is here formed by a wall from thirty 
to forty feet high, on which the surf beats loudly and 
heavily. The country bordering it is picturesque, 
and tolerably fertile ; small hamlets are frequent, 
24 



278 PRIMITIVE STATE OF THE INHABITANTS. 

situated in the midst of shady groves. They were 
built after the primitive fashion of the country, and 
the inhabitants generally appeared poor and desti- 
tute. Civilization, whatever it had done elsewhere, 
had evidently made but small progress here, and the 
whole scene, probably, differed but little from what it 
appeared in the days of Cook, excepting that we saw 
no other signs of heathenism than numerous ruined 
temples. The people were civil and hospitable, but 
of darker complexions and more repulsive counte- 
nances than those we had been accustomed to seeing 
on the other islands. But the whole landscape had 
an air of quiet repose and happiness, which was the 
more gratifying, from contrast with the dreary spec- 
tacle we had jnst left. The males were mostly em- 
ployed in fishing, which labor, to judge from the 
rocky landing-places, and the rough sea, was no 
sinecure. They assembled, however, very readily, at 
the summons of a conch, to attend the meetings 
which the missionary held at every village we 
passed through. From the traces of cultivation, the 
numerous stone pavements, and terraces partially 
overgrown with vines and Irees, and the care bestowed 
in the erection of their habitations, now old and out 
of repair, this evidently was once a populous and 
flourishing district. The wars of Kamehameha 
drained it of its able-bodied men, and a series of op- 
pressive governors have consummated its desolation. 
In the afternoon we reached Hilo, and remained 
the two succeeding days. On Sunday, Mr. Coan 
preached to a congregation of two thousand persons. 
They were tolerably well clothed, and made a respect- 



SUNDAY. A NEW WAY OF PREACHING. 279 

able as well as a devout appearance. The sermon 
was attentively responded to ; for the method of Mr. 
Coan is to engage their attention by sententious 
sentences in familiar language, intermingled with 
exhortations and advice; he also occasionally ad- 
dressed them in colloquy, obtaining their assent or 
dissent, as might be, to his statements and opinions. 
The answers were mostly monopolized by a bold 
fellow, who in a conspicuous position freely uttered 
his thoughts, much to his own satisfaction, and the 
edification of the remainder of the congregation. An 
air of intelligence pervaded the whole assembly, as 
if they not only heard but understood the sayings of 
their pastor. Indeed, Mr. Coan has met with won- 
derful success, and much of it is, perhaps, to be 
attributed to his style of preaching — at once sim- 
ple, energetic, and truthful. 

On our return passage we passed through the 
channel between Maui and Hawaii, notorious for 
its heavy squalls, rapid currents, and short, toppling 
seas. The beautiful appearance of the lofty moun- 
tains on either side is some alleviation, however, for 
this complication of disagreeables, but my purpose 
in alluding to it in this place is to record a feat in 
swimming, which, if it were not perfectly well au- 
thenticated, would seem to be incredible. At Hono- 
lulu it was a common affair for men and boys to 
plunge from the top-gallant yards of large ships, pass 
under their bottoms, and reappear on the other side. 
I have known them bring up small articles lost over- 
board in ninety feet of water, and it is asserted of a 
woman, who was capsized in a canoe when two 



280 FEATS IN SWIMMING. 

miles from shore, that she swam the whole distance 
to land with a shark in full pursuit, seeking an 
opportunity to make a meal of her; but the activity 
and coolness she displayed proved too much for ihe 
rapacious and cowardly fish. These feats sink into 
insignificance compared with the following, which 
also serves to show how much at home the natives 
are upon the waves, and that there is considerable 
truih in the statement ofien made in regard to them, 
namely, that a native may perish from hunger and 
exhaustion upon the water, but he will not drown. 
The schooner Kiola, a small vessel of thirty-five tons, 
left Lahaina for Kawaihae on the ninth of May, 1840. 
She was in an uriseaworlhy condition, having been 
ashore, but, with the characteristic recklessness of 
Hawaiians, was sent to sea again without being 
repaired. From thirty to forty people were on board. 
On the afternoon of the subsequent day, they had 
arrived to within ten miles of Kahola point, Hawaii; 
Maui was but just visible in the distance. The wind 
breezed up strong, and ihe vessel careened much to 
the leeward; the stone ballast rolled over in that 
direction, and part of her cargo immediately followed. 
Her bows were suddenly thrown under, and, before 
she could recover herself, the water rushed into her 
hatches, and she filled and went down, carrying 
with her a number who were unable to extricate 
themselves from her hold. The remainder, at the 
summons of Mauae, a pious native, who, during the 
morning, (it was Sunday^) had conducted divine 
service, assembled as near each other as it was possi- 
ble, while he implored succor from above. Although 



A SHIPWRECK AND WONDERFUL ESCAPE. 281 

Hawaii was comparatively but a short distance (ten 
or twelve miles) from them, the current and sea were 
both adverse to their swimming thither. According- 
ly, the party made for Maui and Kahoolawe. Thomp- 
son, a naturalized Hawaiian, the commander of the 
schooner, was unable to swim. His wife placed him 
on an oar, and together they pushed for the shore. 
On Monday morning he died ; in the afternoon she 
landed on Kahoolawe. An active young man se- 
cured a hatchway for himself and younger brother ; 
the latter died before daylight, Monday, but the elder 
reached the island by eight o'clock ; a boy, who was 
both feeble and sickly, unaided by any support, swam 
the entire distance, (twenty-five to thirty miles,) and 
arrived before any of the others. Mauae and his wife 
had each a covered bucket ; they undressed, tied their 
clothes about them, and swam for land. Three young 
men accompanied them, all of whom successively 
disappeared during the night, either by going in 
another direction, or becoming exhausted. As sharks 
are here very abundant, perhaps some lost their lives 
from them. On Monday morning, with the excep- 
tion of the two who had already landed, none others, 
except Mauae, and Kaluawahinenui his wife, sur- 
vived. Some may have been swept by the current 
to the leeward of the island, and in this manner pre- 
vented from reaching land. Kaluawahinenui's bucket 
came to pieces during the morning, and she swam 
without anything until afternoon, when Mauae be- 
came too weak to proceed. They rested awhile, and 
she lomid (shampooed) him, by which he was much 
refreshed. They started once more, and swam on, 
24* 



282 A SHIPWRECK AND WONDERFUL ESCAPE. 

until Kahoolawe was in full view ; but Mauae grew 
weak rapidly, and was unable to retain his hold on 
his bucket. She took it from him, while he grasped 
the hair of her head, by which she dragged him some 
distance further. His hands, however, unable to re- 
tain their hold, slipped. She endeavored to arouse 
him to further effort, but in vain. She then told him 
to pray, but he was only able to ejaculate a sentence 
or two. Putting his arms around her neck, she then 
held them fast, and swam with the unincumbered 
hand. It was near night, when she arrived within 
a quarter of a mile of the shore, her husband still 
hanging to her. They had then been in ihe water 
nearly thirty hours, and he was now quite dead. 
Perceiving this, she cast off the body, and shortly after 
reached land. It was a barren spot; the inhabitants 
resided on the opposite side of the island. The long 
exposure to the salt water had blinded her eyes, and 
it was some hours before her sight was restored. 
Too fatigued to go far, she sought for food and 
water; the latter only, a little rain, which had 
recently fallen, she found in the hollows of the 
rocks, and that was her sole sustenance. Tuesday, 
Wednesday, and Thursday went by, and no one 
came to relieve her. She was fast failing, when, on 
.b'riday morning, she discovered some watermelons, 
and ate one. Soon after, some fishermen appeared, 
and they conducted her to their village, and the day 
after transported her to Lahaina. When the young 
men reached Lahaina, they were as well and lively 
as before the accident ; the women were not so strong, 
but otherwise perfectly well. 



*V'l 



mm 






. 



• 



CHAPTER VII 



CENTRAL AMERICA 



Different Routes. — Difficulties. — Embarkation for Panama. — ■ 
Fellow Passengers. — Acapulco. — Trouble, — Imprisonment 
and Release. — Admiral Du Petit Thouars — Mexican Hospi- 
tality. — Gulf of Tecuantepec. — Phosphorescence. — Volca- 
noes of Guatimala. — Arrival at Acajutla. — Brigantine at An- 
chor. — Shore. — Roadstead of Acaj utla. — Surf. — Boats Capsized. 

— Custom House. — A Hospitable Lady. — Leave the Brig, 

— Road to Zonzonate. — Sugar and Indigo Plantations. — 
Ruins. — Age of Zonzonate. — Population. — A Kind Hostess. 

— Carnival. — Man Killed. — A Benefit from a Thespian 
Corps. — Country Cousins. — News from Guatimala. — "Wars in 
the Interior. — A Dilemma. — Conclude to Go-ahead. — Prepara- 
tions. — An Auxiliary. — Leave Zonzonate. — Cordilleras. — 
Volcano of Itzalco. — Dry and Wet Seasons. — An Indian Vil- 
lage. — A Meditated Attack. — Change of Route. — An Indian 
Hamlet. — A Submerged Town. — An Escape. — A Fresh Alarm. 

— Village of St. Helena. — Bad News. — A Council. — A Night 
March. — Pass through Chiquimula. — Efforts to capture us.— = 
A Hard Road, and a Thirsty Party. — Pass Zacapa. — A Dilem- 
ma. — San Pablo. — A Halt. — Slumbers interrupted. — Captured. 

— An unexpected Friend. — Release. — Gualan. — A surly Land- 
lady. — Mico Mountain. — Isabel. — Trade. — Scenery of the Gulf 
of Dulce. — Boat Navigation. — Chills and Fever. — Balize. — • 
Arrive Home. 

It has always been, and seems likely ever to be, a 
problem of considerable importance to the sojourner 
at the Hawaiian Islands, when his thoughts and de« 



284 EMBARKATION FOR PANAMA. 

sires are homeward turned, how he shall reaeh that 
home. Be he of the United States, or England, or 
France, the question is one of equal interest to each 
of them, and whatever may have been their differ- 
ences of opinions while residing on the sea-girt 
group, a unison of sentiment is sure, on such an oc- 
casion, to manifest itself. All are equally desirous 
of reaching home the safest, speediest, and most 
agreeable way, and of a multiplicity of bad and 
dangerous routes it is no easy matter to fix the choice 
upon any one. 

It was in the fall of 1837, that I found myself at 
Honolulu, one day, in company with a half a dozen 
others, ail of whom were speculating as to how they 
should reach the United States. The arguments, 
pro and con, the several ways that presented them- 
selves, it is now useless to repeat. Panama was to 
be the first port we should make, and the Isthmus of 
Darien the crossing-place, thus combining as little land 
and water in our jaunt as it were possible. A dim- 
inutive brigantine was found, the far-famed and no- 
torious Clementine, of Hawaiian annals, the agent 
of which engaged to land us at the port we sought. 
A little scouring and furbishing prepared her for our 
reception, and that of a numerous colony of poultry 
and other live stock, destined, however, 1o keep us 
company no longer than our appetites should con- 
sent. 

On the 5th of December, under a succession of 
cheers from the crowd assembled to witness our de- 
parture, and a couple of guns from a friendly brig, 
hands were shaken, anchor weighed, top-sail sheeted 



EMBARKATION FOR PANAMA. 285 

home, and in ten minutes the Clementine had cleared 
the last point of the reef, and was rolling before a 
fresh trade along the leeward side of the island. In 
eighteen days, the coast of California was descried, 
along whose rocky and barren shore we sailed, keep- 
ing within a few miles. 

Passing Cape St. Lucas, the forest-clad islands 
of Tres Marias and the Mexican coast soon appeared 
in view. I have spent much time on the water, but 
never so agreeably as on the present occasion. The 
usual monotony of sea-life could not have been more 
delightfully varied. So smooth was the ocean, that 
it could be compared to nothing but a vast river. 
The breezes were off-land by night, cool and balmy, 
and on-shore by day, mitigating the heat which olh- 
erwise would have been almost insupportable. Our 
course brought us from within a quarter of a mile to 
a league of the coast, which presented a mingled 
landscape of valley and mountain, plain and dell, 
all, as it was the pleasant season, clothed in luxuri- 
ant verdure. Numerous Indian hamlets dotted the 
shore, their smokes ascending and curling from the 
tops of the trees, while by night as we passed along, 
their flames resembled so many fire-flies dancing over 
the scene. The atmosphere was perfectly trans- 
lucent; of that purity and clearness of which the in- 
habitants of the temperate zones have no conception, 
and which, seemingly, brings the most distant objects 
to within touching distance. The scenery formed a 
perfect panorama, or picture, in just the light and 
distance to bring out all its beauties, and heighten its 
natural colors, without disclosing a single defect. 



286 ACAPULCO. 

In the background rose the abrupt and lofty out- 
line of the Cordilleras, prominent in which, and rising 
high above, its base concealed by mountains nearer the 
shore, the snowy peak of Colima, like a suspend- 
ed pearl in the atmosphere, was visible in solitary, 
yet beautiful grandeur. The region abounded in 
volcanoes. Occasionally, the lurid flames of an 
active crater would shoot up high above its edge, and 
its light, reflected upon the overhanging clouds, was 
a beacon to our progress by night, as its smoke 
proved by day. Colima lias an elevation of nine 
thousand feet; the neighboring country is so uneasy, 
that in common parlance the inhabitants are said to 
sleep with one leg out of bed, to be on the qui rice, 
in case an earthquake should interrupt their slumbers. 

Beside such rich and diversified scenery, we lloat- 
ed along, seldom exceeding seventy-five miles per 
day, until day-break of the morning of the 10th of 
January, L838, when finding ourselves becalmed off 
the port of Acapulco, the Captain determined upon 
scalding a boat ashore to procure supplies of fresh 
provisions) of which we were greatly in need. I 
say we found ourselves oil' Acapulco; I should have 
said that our course and chronometer observations 
put us there. Hut no appearance o( a port could be 
seen, particularly such a port as it was natural to ex- 
pect the best harbor of Mexico should be. which for 
centuries had poured forth argosies freighted with 
the gold, silver, and precious stones of the richest 
Country in metals on the globe. The coast, here, 
appeared as sparsely inhabited as any portion of that 
we had passed. It was equally as verdant and 



TROUBLE. 287 

mountainous, and to our eyes presented nothing that 
resembled a harbor. A cove made someway inland, 
and a few huts occupied the beach. For sometime 
we speculated upon whether this could be the port 
in question. Before we had settled it, however, the 
roll of a drum and the notes of a bugle reached our 
ears. Turning our eyes in the direction from whence 
the sound proceeded, the stern of a large frigate, 
with the tri-colored flag of France at the spanker-gaft, 
was discernible, though the remainder of her seem- 
ed as if it were buried in the bold promontory which 
had heretofore concealed her from our notice. She 
lay close in to the shore, blended with and overhung 
by a lofty wooded cliff. The entrance to the harbor 
being discovered, a boat with two of our passengers 
was despatched ashore, while the brigantine lay off 
and on. The passengers promised a speedy return. 
Rowing round under the stern of the frigate, they 
were soon lost to our view, while our imaginations 
were regaling us with the idea of the delicious fruits 
the gentlemen were to bring off. The morning 
passed, and noon came and went, and yet they made 
not their appearance. We began to be a little vexed, 
that they should be having all the fun and fruit to 
themselves. The sun set, and still no news of the 
wanderers. 

In the course of the evening, a boat from the 
frigate, which proved to be the Venus, Admiral Du 
Petit Thouars, came alongside, and brought intelli- 
gence of the fugitives. 

It appeared, that upon landing, they had proceed- 
ed directly to the custom-house, and reported the na- 



288 IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE. 

tare and object of their visit. Imagine their surprise, 
when, instead of the welcome buenas dins senores, 
I wish you a good morning, gentlemen — they were 
suddenly seized, placed under arrest, and informed 
that they must pay each a line of three hundred dol- 
lars, before they could either be released, or hold any 
communication wilh their vessel. As some excuse 
was to be invented for this robbery, they hunted up 
an old Spanish law, by which a heavy fine was to 
be inflicted upon any one that landed from a vessel 
after her arrival at Acapulco, before she had been 
boarded and examined by the port authorities. They 
turned a deaf ear to the representation that the brig- 
antine was not bound to any Mexican port, and had 
merely sent a boat ashore to the proper authorities to 
beg the permission to purchase necessary supplies. 
Every entreaty or threat was in vain, withrut los 
pesos. It seems that two whaling captains, not long 
before, had been decoyed ashore and spunged after 
the same plan, and they, finding the business profita- 
ble, were very determined in this instance. But for 
once they were mistaken. An American in the 
Mexican sen ice managed to hold intercourse with 
his countrymen, and, ihough closely watched, con- 
trived to smuggle a letter to the French Admiral. 
Upon its receipt, he immediately waited upon the 
governor, an ignorant half-caste, who could neilher 
read nor write, and promptly demanded their release. 
After sundry hems and has, and more excuses, and 
endeavoring to shift the responsibility to the officers 
of the port, he finally ordered them to be set at lib- 
erty, with a special edict that they should leave the 



GULF OF TECUANTEPEC. 2S9 

place instanter; this latter injunction required no 
physical enforcement, for the prisoners by this time 
had had their fill of Mexican hospitality, and felt not 
the slightest inclination to trespass upon it longer. 
They soon made their appearance, hungry as sharks, 
but well satisfied that their pockets had not been bled, 
and will, no doubt, ever retain towards the gallant 
Admiral a proportionate amount of gratitude. 

The town of Acapulco, or what remained of its 
former grandeur, was in great confusion ; a recent 
earthquake having jostled everything out of its place, 
and added new piles to the former masses of rain. 
The harbor is entirely land-locked, safe, blow the 
wind as it may, easy of access, and capacious. 

From the statements of our unfortunate friends, 
we were not anxious to remain longer in this vicin- 
ity, and accordingly all sail was made, and by morn- 
ing we were forty miles to the south of Acapulco. 
The water about us was now alive with fishes of 
many varieties, many of which, from day to day, 
smoked upon our table. The dolphins here are of 
the largest and most beautiful kind; their dying 
colors can only be compared to the evanescent tints 
of a tropical sunset. We were continually passing 
turtles asleep on the water, and once, by a little man- 
agement, we were enabled to drive a harpoon through 
one, and got him in on deck. However, his flesh 
did. not equal the anticipations of our appetites. 

As we advanced, the coast, though fertile, became 

rougher and less picturesque, presenting numerous 

appearances of recent and powerful volcanic action. 

Every breeze from its shore wafted to us a perfume 

25 



290 VOLCANOES OF GUATIMALA. 

which would not have discredited * Araby the blest.' 
During the day, the weather became very hot, but 
continued comfortable at night. Tedious calms 
greatly interrupted our progress across the Gulf of 
Tecuantepec. At this season of the year they ap- 
pear to usurp the place of the violent gales, which 
prevail here during other months, rivalling, in vio- 
lence, the typhoons of Japan. At any rate, it was all 
quiet and pleasant with us. At night, as far as the 
eye could reach, the ocean was covered with innu- 
merable and brilliant specks of light, shedding their 
lustre upon our sails and rigging, and dancing about 
over the water like myriads of fife-flies, giving out a 
sparkling radiance that shone like the light of stars 
upon a clear winter's night in the frozen north. 
The ohosphorescent appearance of the sea is very 
common. But this peculiarly beautiful exhibition is 
seldom seen. Off the coast of Chili, a few years 
afterward, when on board of a fast-sailing sloop-of- 
war lhat was dashing along before a spanking breeze, 
we came into a field of these animalculae. The 
whole ship was lighted by the intcnseness of their 
illumination, and as they were stirred up and whirled 
about in the wake, and thrown in foam over the 
bows and forward guns, the appearance was most 
sublime. It was like sailing through an ocean of 
gems; the splendor of each receiving additional lus- 
tre from its neighbor. 

On the 20th of January, so slow had been our 
progress, from twent --five to forty miles per day, we 
had only come in sight of the famous volcanoes of 
Agua and Fuego. From their great altitude, fifteen 



ARRIVAL AT ACAJUTLA. 291 

thousand feet, they remained in view for several days. 
At early dawn their summits were remarkably dis- 
tinct and bold, presenting a giant outline, springing, 
as it were, from out the very horizon. But at sunset, 
nothing could exceed the beautiful hues with which 
their tops were enshrouded. Long after the sun had 
sank beneath the ocean to the west, his rays hovered 
and played about their snowy heights, reflecting a 
flood of light of various colors, sometimes dazzling, 
then mellow, and gradually disappearing, until the 
blackness of night shrouded the whole landscape. 

On the 24ih we dropped anchor in the roadstead 
of Acajutla. It was our intention merely to replen- 
ish our stores, and then make all despatch for Pana- 
ma, which was still six hundred miles distant. 

So prevalent had been the calms, that for the past 
fortnight we had made but four hundred miles. 
After so long a confinement on board our small craft, 
the shore looked more than ordinarily tempting; it 
was verdant to the beach, which was lined with a 
formidable row of breakers. It was late in the eve- 
ning before the brigantine was made snug and riding 
at her anchor, the first time it had been dropped for 
sixly days. At night several volcanoes were visible, 
emitting either smoke or flames. That of Izalco, 
which was nearest us, glowed like a Brobdignag 
lighthouse; showing a steady and immense ball of 
fire. Some of our party fancied, before the light had 
wholly gone, they felt the shock of an earthquake. 
It was not improbable, though it must have been 
very faint, for, novices as we were to such freaks of 
nature, we could not agree upon a unanimous verdict 
as to its genuineness or not. 



292 ROADSTEAD OF ACAJUTLA. 

The roadstead of Acajutla is open and exposed to 
the surges of the Pacific at its greatest width. Con- 
sequently, landing through its surf is not altogether 
fun, as some of our number soon learned, to their cost. 
The first boat sent ashore was knocked end over end, 
and thrown high upon the beach, broken and useless 
for the future. Several of the crew were injured, 
though fortunately, not seriously. The launch was 
then tried, and it met with a similar somerset, though 
owing to its stronger materials it was not stove. 
The passengers who had ventured in her w r ere rolled 
up the beach, choking with salt and sand, and most 
thoroughly soused. After these mishaps, we used 
the counlry launches or bungos. An English man- 
of-war brig, but a few days previous to our arrival, 
lost two men in the surf, and her boat was detained 
ashore for one week. 

Acajutla lies in thirteen degrees north. It is the 
port of Zonzonate, and under the government of 
Spain was a place of considerable trade. It is still 
visited by vessels of different nations, and under an 
enlightened government would soon rival its former 
importance. It is on the shores of San Salvador, 
the ' Cuscatlan,' or land of riches of the aborigines; 
and rightly is it named, as far as nature has bestowed 
her gifts. 

A battery of heavy guns surmounts a steep hill, 
fronling ihe landing-place. Ascending the hill by a 
stone causeway, we reached the custom-house and a 
range of extensive warehouses, which at a distance 
made a very imposing appearance, but upon nearer 
inspection were found to be mostly in ruins. They 



CUsTOM-HOUSE. 293 

were formerly occupied as store-houses for merchan- 
dise, under the Spanish regime, when trade and in- 
dustry were in a more prosperous condition than at 
present. A captain of the port, a few soldiers, and 
a few other characters, who were neither too lazy 
nor too proud to bestir themselves, provided they 
were well paid, constituted the military force. All 
were very civil and obliging, and gave us not the 
slightest trouble in bringing our baggage ashore. 
With all the signs of decay about us, the spot was a 
cheerful looking one. In the rear of the custom- 
house was the town. It consisted of about two 
dozen cane huts, through the interstices of whose 
sides the weather had free access. Their style of 
building argued much for the salubrity of the place, 
and evenness of its temperature. Grass hammocks, 
a wooden stool or two, a few shelves, and some non- 
descript articles of earthen-ware, constituted the sum 
total of their household effects. The climate required 
but little clothing, and as for the inhabitants, they 
were of all hues, the copper color greatly predominat- 
ing. Their occupations seemed to be limited ; those 
we saw were either idly swinging in their hammocks, 
washing clothes, or else dancing most vigorously to 
the notes of an instrument resembling the guitar. 

Leaving them to the full enjoyment of their pur- 
suits, I wandered again with two of my fellow- 
passengers towards the custom-house. Upon reach- 
ing it, a lady, whose personal appearance and the 
deference paid her showed her to be of a higher rank 
than the other females whom we had met, accosted 
25^ 



294 A HOSPITABLE LADY. 

us in a courteous manner, and invited us to enter her 
dwelling. She ushered us into a large room, which 
formed a wing of the custom-house. The walls, 
which were several feet thick, were black with age 
and dirt. The floor was of rough stone. One un- 
glazed window, secured by iron bars and massive 
shutters, let light into the apartment. The furniture 
consisted of several trunks made of ox-hide, a bench, 
a table, a chair, and a stool, all of ihe rudest con- 
struction ; the latter of which were allotted to us, 
while the good lady, par necessitate, seated herself 
on the bed, a diminutive species of couch, decora- 
ted with lace curtains, ornamented with silver clasps. 
Our hostess evidently was young, but appeared to 
be afflicted with some painful disorder. She soon 
informed us of its nature, and to verify her asser- 
tions, brought forward vials of horrid looking mix- 
tures, the very sight of which was sufficient to make 
a well man feel qualmish. She seemed to feel all 
the interest' in their several virtues, that a fond moth- 
er does in her children. 

An invitation to dine had been extended to us, 
and hungry as our ramble had made us, we were 
quite curious, with the glance we had already had 
of her domestic arrangement, to discover how so 
important a ceremony w^as to be accomplished. A 
few weeks more experience in the country, and we 
looked back upon our entertainment of this day, in 
much the same light that the Israelites of yore did 
to the flesh-pots of Egypt. However, it was evident 
that the lady's hospitality somewhat exceeded her 



A HOSPITABLE LADY. ■ 295 

resources, but she knew well that if we left her roof 
our chance for going dinnerless that day was by no 
means problematical. There was no going on ship- 
board, and as for a meal in Acajutla sufficient for three 
ravenous yankees, you might as well look for an 
orange-grove in Greenland. It was no fault of hers 
that we did not fare sumptuously. Two servant 
women, on whom it would have been difficult to 
have decided whether filth or rags predominated, 
made their appearance, and from one of the afore- 
mentioned trunks dislodged two perfect knives and 
forks, two imperfect ditto, and a few plates. These 
materials, with a couple of tumblers, completed the 
table gear. Several stews liberally saturated with 
garlics, and some capital white bread, to which we 
did abundant justice, I fear to the serious detriment 
of her store, furnished us a much better repast than 
we had anticipated. It was our first dinner in Cen- 
tral America, eaten with the more zest from being 
provided in the spirit of genuine hospitality. The 
lady's kindness extended even to loaning her pet- 
horse, a beautiful animal. Her rank was not incon- 
siderable. She was a niece of General Morazan, 
then President of the Republic, with whose romantic 
career, and melancholy end, the public have since 
been made acquainted. God grant, that his kind 
niece, if she survived her medicines, did not share 
his misfortunes. The heart clings to him, or her, 
who first welcomes the stranger in a strange land; 
and the courteous greeting with which this invalid 
invited us freely to partake of the best that she had 
the ability to bestow, was the more pleasing as it 
was unexpected, 



296 LODGING-PLACE. 

Although she was enabled, by extra exertions, to 
provide us a dinner, it needed no second glance to 
assure us that beds were out of the question, and a 
night's lodging must depend upon our own exertions. 
Towards dark we strolled back again towards the 
miserable huts which we had visited in the morning. 
All appearances q( labor and even laziness had 
ceased, and, excited by the fumes of aguadiente, the 
motley population had assembled in and about one 
of the huts, and were engaged in a high frolic. They 
sang and danced to the thrumming of those monoto- 
nous-toned instruments, whose notes resembled more 
the noise of some vile insect than anything musical. 
They were a ragged-looking set, and unaccustomed 
as we were then to the lowering mestizo counte- 
nance, and nervous manner in which they handled 
their knives, their glances towards us seemed some- 
what suspicious. At any rate, we felt no inclination 
to share their lodgings. Our last resort was to throw 
ourselves upon the hospitality of the friendly port- 
captain. We found him in one of ihe apartments 
of the huge custom-house, and he rejoiced our weary 
limbs by the information that a room in the same 
building was at our disposal. As it was late, we 
accepted his offer at once. He led us to the farther 
end of the massive range, and, entering a deserted 
room, bade us follow him up a tortuous stair-case. 
This brought us into a spacious apartment with a 
stone floor. By the light of. the moon which shone 
through a large door-way, leading to an ample corri- 
dor, from which the bay, with the vessels quietly 
riding at their anchors in the offing were distinctly 



CENTRAL AMERICAN FLEAS. 297 

visible, a hammock and two bedsteads were discov- 
ered. Other furniture, neither they nor the room could 
claim, except a dense layer of dust and venerable 
festoons of cobwebs. We were too tired to bestow 
a thought upon the probable chances of treading 
upon a centipede or snake, or of finding our intended 
resting-places previously engaged by a scorpion or 
tarantula. Without a moment's hesitation, each of 
us yankees threw himself upon the nearest couch. 
The Peruvian Colonel, upon first entering, had 
secured the hammock to himself. As we took the 
only choice left us, I thought I could distinguish an 
involuntary chuckle proceeding from him. In a 
minute, his sagacity in selecting the hammock, which 
hung several feet above the floor, was manifest. I 
don 't know why, but the idea of fleas had never 
occurred to me. Fleas! I thought that a Valparaiso 
flea was keen at his trade ; but I discovered fleas in 
Peru that were sharper and nimbler still. Since this 
eventful night, I have been flea-victimized on the 
cold mountains of Hawaii, and the scorched plains 
of Kauai, but never in all the course of my ramblings 
have I met the equal of the Central American fleas. 
We had lain down upon the hard boards, in the vain 
hope that our fatigue would soon render us imper- 
vious to all external sensations; but, oh! the misery 
of that night. In an instant a legion of the insatiable 
foe were upon and over as; in our pantaloons and 
under our shirts, thrusting themselves through our 
stockings, and seeking lodgings for themselves in the 
folds of our neck-cloths. There were the innumer- 
able multitude in each and all of these places at 



298 LEAVE THE BRIGANTINE. 

once, kicking, scratching, fighting, hopping, and bit- 
ing; now gently tickling, then thrusting their pro- 
bosces into us with an energy that made us yell for 
mercy. If my reader has ever watched the motions 
of a hooked eel, when he is first landed, or an im- 
paled worm, he can form some faint conception of 
our contortions during that night. It was no use 
struggling, they were neither to be frightened nor 
scratched off. We kicked and we screamed ; the 
colonel chuckled a little louder; we laughed, as it 
was no use to cry; the hammock actually shook 
under the merriment of the old soldier, as he listened 
to our plight, for it was loo dark to see it. It was 
no relief 1o vent our ire upon him ; either of us would 
gladly have followed his example. Finally, he grin- 
ned himself to sleep ; we arose and walked the room ; 
but the fleas had prospered in that untenanted build- 
ing, and such a feast had probably never fallen to 
their lot, for a half-century before, and I most devoutly 
hope, for the sake of all future travellers, will never 
again. They seemed to be fearful themselves of a 
failure in that quarter, and most industriously made 
use of their teeth and time. I went out upon the 
corridor; tried to be sentimental over the moon-lit 
sea, the surf-beaten shore, and volcanoes, disgorging 
flames and smoke in the distance. But it was of no 
use ; the fleas followed me there, and not one moment's 
rest during that night, which seemed as long as a 
polar day at the summer solstice, did I obtain. 

Such discouraging accounts were told us of the 
calms between this port and Panama, and the long 
delay that we should probably be subjected to, in 



ZONZONATE. 299 

endeavoring to reach that place, that we held a grand 
council, and came to the unanimous decision to 
leave the brigantine here, and make the best of our 
way over land, to the port of Isabel on the Gulf of 
Dnlce, a jaunt which we were informed would 
occupy us eight days. 

Zonzonate lies fifteen miles inland. The road 
thither is through a forest, dotted at intervals with 
small Indian hamlets. Upon our arrival there, our 
first care was a lodging-place. A posada was first 
tried, but the gambling, fighting, and carousing, after 
one night's experience within its precincts, drove us 
to seek fresh quarters. Fortunately, these were found. 
in a private family, whose attention and kindness to 
us were unremitted. Upon taking possession of our 
new quarters, we learned news that was by no means 
agreeable. Without being made acquainted with 
the particulars, we heard that a civil war was raging 
in the interior, on the very line of our intended route, 
and that the inhabitants were particularly exasperated 
against foreigners. 

Zonzonate is situated, amid an exceedingly rich 
country, and is one of the chief towns of the State 
of San Salvador. It is about half-way between the 
capital of the State, and the city of Guatimala. The 
surrounding country abounds in springs; indeed, 
Zonzonate takes its name from this circumstance ; it 
signifying in the Indian tongue, 'four hundred 
springs.' These, meandering in all directions around 
the country, water the numerous plantations, and 
keep vegetation in perennial green; indeed, a more 
luxuriant growth of the vegetable kingdom it is im- 



300 WOMEN BATHING. 

possible to conceive of. The forests are impenetrable, 
except as they yield to the axe of the pioneer. The 
cougar, tapir, and tiger make their lairs in their 
recesses, and not unfrequently commit depredations 
upon the flocks and herds of the farmers. Myriads 
of venomous insects and serpents infest their bor- 
ders, and we often met them in the paths ; as for 
roads, there are none. The trees and vines overhang 
the public ways so closely, as barely to allow loaded 
mules to pass each other. Fruits are abundant, and 
of most delicious flavor. The numerous rivulets 
afford fine bathing-places, so necessary in this hot 
though healthy climate. The province is termed the 
' tierra caliente/ and at noon we found the sun 
altogether insupportable. A considerable stream, 
called the Rio Grande, crossed by a very good stone 
bridge, runs by one extremity of the town. Its 
banks are exceedingly picturesque; at one place its 
•waters are diverted into a narrow canal, of about 
two feet in depth. Passing along its borders, I no- 
ticed some twenty negro women, entirely naked, 
seated in the stream, with the water flowing by them 
to their waists, while they were unconcernedly laving 
the remainder of their bodies. As spectators did not 
at all disturb them, I conceived it to be a custom as 
common as it was refreshing, and from what I then 
saw, judged that not unfrequently, hours were occu- 
pied in this natural bath. At any rate, they were in 
rrtost excellent spirits, and passing their jokes from 
one to another, they shook their fat sides with laugh- 
ter. Numbers of their sex and color were filling 
water-jars beside them. 

The vicinity of the town is hilly. Near it are a 



AGE OF ZONZONATE. 301 

number of valuable plantations, belonging to foreign- 
ers, of which the principal, a sugar and indigo 
hacienda, is owned by Dr. Drivin, a French gentle- 
man. The vats used for the indigo, on his estate, 
are the same that were built of brick and stuccoed, 
by the Jesuits, more than two centuries ago ; they 
then owned extensive landed possessions in this 
neighborhood. Dr. Drivin discovered them quite 
accidentally on his lands, and after they were cleaned 
out, found them quite as serviceable as if new. 

Zonzonate was once a city of considerable mag- 
nitude and importance. Ruins of houses and other 
buildings, are to be discovered at the extremities of 
several of the streets. Farther on, the foundations 
only of others, and the pavements of the city are 
to be traced even beyond. Vegetation, which here 
is so rapid and destructive in its growth, has nearly 
covered these remains from the eye; and by viewing 
them in their silent shades, the mind naturally goes 
back to the monuments of aboriginal architecture, so 
many of which lie hid in the same manner, in the 
forests of this country. The sudden disappearance 
of the vast cities, fortresses, and temples, so frequently 
spoken of by the Spanish conquerors ; the descrip- 
tion of which, until within a few years, served only 
to draw a smile of incredulity from the modern his- 
torian, is now readily accounted for. Man, to live 
in this region, must maintain a constant struggle 
with his vegetable foes. A town once depopulated, 
soon becomes overgrown with vines and trees, and 
wild animals and hissing snakes make their homes 
in its deserted chambers, 
26 



302 THE CARNIVAL. 

Zonzonate still contains a population of several 
thousand. It is regularly laid out; the streets are 
wide and clean, though much overgrown with grass, 
and well paved. Many of the houses are even 
elegant. They are mostly of one story, built of 
stone, with thick and massive walls, and erected 
around a hollow square. The interior forms a pretty 
courtyard. Externally, they are whitewashed, and 
have large unglazed windows, ornamented with 
green lattice-work. A rural and quiet air pervades 
the whole place. Some of the churches and con- 
vents date nearly three centuries back, and are vener- 
able looking piles. Their walls, in many places, 
though several feet in thickness, are rent widely 
asunder — the effects of the frequent earthquakes 
with which the place has been visited. 

The carnival season came on before our departure, 
and what the town lacked in enterprise for business, 
it made up in zeal for fun and deviltry. Our hostess 
underwent a visitation from numerous country cous- 
ins, who came in to witness the show. All were 
hospitably received, and, with her former boarders, 
made a large household. Now we lived in clover. 
Cakes and confectionary were showered upon us by 
the good people, who seemed determined that if our 
religious sympathies refused to participate in the 
general jollification, there should be nothing to com- 
plain of, on the part of our alimentive. 

The town which but a day before was as quiet as 
a Sabbath in New England, now became a scene of 
joyful confusion. The churches were open for wor- 
shippers, and for holy pageantries; theatrical exhibi- 



THESPIAN CORPS. 303 

tions were performed, and the plaza crowded with 
eating, drinking, and frolicking thousands. Still, 
little or none of brutal intoxication was to be seen, 
though aguadiente was as abundant as water. Every 
inhabitant bore arms — the universal custom in this 
province. Their favorite weapon is the long two- 
edged sword: a dangerous tool, in the use of which 
they are greatly skilled. Those whose means did 
not allow them this article, carried a knife ; useful 
for clearing the roads through the forests, and in a 
fighting bout capable of being put to good account. 
It could not be expected, amid the drinking and 
gambling such a scene gives rise to, that ail would 
pass off quietly. A brawl ensued, and one death 
was the consequence. The church, however, honored 
the corpse with a gorgeous burial, and the occurrence 
was soon forgotten. 

On the last day of the fete, we were surprised by • 
a benefit from the Thespian corps ; though why we 
were thus distinguished, we were not able to divine. 
We were eating our breakfast, when suddenly a 
grand flourish of trumpets and other martial clangor 
caused us to start from our seats. Our landlady ran 
in and bade us keep a good watch over our goods 
and chattels. It seems she had no good opinion of 
the honesty of her countrymen. Scarcely were the 
necessary precautions taken, when the door was 
thrown open, and the causes of all this outcry made 
their appearance, and without even saying, 'by your 
permission, sirs,' fairly took possession of our room, 
vi et armis. We were very far in the minority, and 
therefore came to the conclusion that discretion was 



304 THESPIAN CORPS. 

the better part of valor, and smiled and welcomed 
them. Judging from the size of their arms, the 
spirits of their forefathers would have found scant 
room in the bodies of their diminutive descendants. 
Clothed in armor cap-a-pie, partly tinsel and partly- 
real, some of which bore the marks of many a hard- 
fought field, and for aught I know protected Alvar- 
ado and his hardy band of warriors, when, three 
centuries previous, they overran this province, they 
marshalled themselves in single file. A young girl, 
who would have been pretty, had her neck not 
been deformed by an enormous goitre, a disease 
almost universal here, and which renders the fairest 
in features, the most disgusting in appearance, was 
tricked out as Isabella of Castile. Placing her in 
the centre of their group, they filed around in quick 
step, clashing their swords, and looking as fierce and 
'warlike as possible. Anon, they broke out in a wild 
and not inharmonious pa? an, interspersed with theat- 
rical declamation. This sort of exercise warmed 
their blood amazingly, and quicker went their feet, 
•as they marched and counter-marched in a variety 
of intricate evolutions, and louder swelled their 
voices. Had these feats been performed elsewhere, 
they would have appeared admirably, but with such 
a wild looking set of fellows inside, and half the cut- 
throat rabble of the town outside, gaping in at the 
doors and windows, they were not much to our satis- 
faction. Whether it would terminate in a forced 
loan on our purses, or a general rush upon our bag- 
gage, we could not determine. Our fears did them 
injustice. After shouting until they were hoarse. 



COUNTRY COUSINS. 305 

and masquerading until they were exhausted, they 
marched out as they came in, with a tremendous 
din of wind instruments and drums, and forthwith 
proceeded to wet their whistles for a fresh exhibition 
in some new quarter. This harlequin-pageant, as 
we were afterwards informed, was intended to com- 
memorate the victories of Ferdinand the Catholic, 
over Boabdil the Moor; though to all appearances, 
there was at this time as much of Moorish blood as 
of the Castilian running in their veins, and perhaps 
more of the Quichen than either. 

The festival being over, our country cousins pre- 
pared to return. Judging from their accoutrements, 
travelling had not much improved in this country 
since the conquest ; and probably the wildest imag- 
inations had never conceived of a coach, much less 
of a railroad or steamboat. Instead of a peaceful 
farmer's family, one would have mistaken them for 
a party of brigands, bearing off children and fair 
maidens to await a ransom. From all that we had 
heard of the interior, thus far, their precautions were 
by no means unnecessary; a man's good sword 
being a much stronger barrier between himself and 
wrong, than any love or respect for law. Over the 
heavy triangular wooden frame, which here answers 
for the foundation of a saddle, stuffed cushions and 
sheep-skins were strapped in sufficient quantity to 
form a comfortable seat, and, with a high loggerhead 
in front and back, and large w r ooden stirrups, gar- 
nished with leather leggins, a safe one. The reins 
and bridle were of braided strips of hide, heavily 
ornamented with silver mountings ; spurs thickly 
26* 



306 WAR IN THE INTERIOR. 

plaited with the same metal, and whose rowels were 
several inches in length, formed no inconsiderable 
load, according to our northern ideas, for their owner's 
heels. But, with the little pieces of metal attached 
to them, they were intended more to jingle than to 
goad. All ready, the party mounted ; the children 
were placed in the arms of the grown persons, their 
little hands well filled with 'dulces' and bonbons, 
by their entertainers. The father, carrying sword 
and pistols, headed the cortege ; servants similarly 
armed followed in the rear; and in this manner they 
started for their forest home. 

Scarcely had the town subsided to its usual degree 
of quiet, when news from Guatimala threw it into a 
complete ferment, and proved to us that if we would 
cross the country we must do it quickly. In peace- 
ful times it was no pleasant matter, and now a san- 
guinary civil war was raging the prospect was any 
thing but cheering. Carrera, at the head of three 
thousand ferocious Indians, after some severe fight- 
ing, had just captured the city of Guatimala, killed 
the Vice President of the Republic, and committed 
many excesses. His ill-will was particularly directed 
against foreigners, as they were supposed to favor the 
administration of Morazan. Indeed, it was by stir- 
ring up the dormant prejudices of the lowest and 
most ignorant classes, that he had been able to attach 
to himself so large a party. Hatred and revenge 
mingled with his ambitious views, for his young and 
beautiful wife had been ravished by some troops of 
Galvas, the Governor of the State of Guatimala. 
The religious sentiments of the mass had been 



INDIAN OUTRAGES. 307 

enlisted in bis cause, and the bigoted portion of the 
priesthood won, by the assurances of reestablishing 
the convents and monasteries, which had been broken 
up by the liberal party. All heretics were to be ban- 
ished. Added to this fanaticism, was an infatuation 
which promised to be more deadly still. The Asiatic 
cholera, the year before, had swept over the country, 
destroying thousands, and in some instances proving 
fatal to almost entire districts of Indians. Their 
filthy habits aggravated its destructive tendencies. 
But Carrera or his partisans, for he was then scarcely 
more than a wild, ignorant, and savage Indian, art- 
fully spread abroad the calumny, that the epidemic 
was caused by foreigners, who had poisoned the 
springs, with the intention of exterminating the native 
population. This tale, notwithstanding its improba- 
bility, was greedily swallowed by the blinded multi- 
tude, who are ever more desirous of seeking the 
causes of their misfortunes in the faults of others 
than in themselves. Many of the foreign residents 
were wealthy men ; a crime in the eyes of the envious 
brigands, which could only be expiated by their 
property passing into their hands. Duped by their 
leaders, the Indians had already begun to commit 
acts of violence. One foreigner had been murdered, 
and the Consul of England, while out riding, but a 
short distance from San Salvador, was seized, and 
compelled by the suspicious natives to drink of the 
water of twelve different, streams, in such a quantity 
that the poor man wellnigh burst. 

A traveller of the same nation was also waylaid, 
robbed, and obliged to drink at one draught a bottle 



308 PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY. 

of milk, which hung at his saddle-bow. A small 
quantity of arsenic, which he had about him to pre- 
pare bird-skins with, fortunately escaped their obser- 
vation. Had the Indians detected it, they would 
have sent it in pursuit of the milk. In fact, foreign- 
ers of any nation had little to expect, besides robbery 
and a cruel death, from the roving bands of either 
party, should, they fall in with them. Morazan, at 
the head of a strong force, was then encamped at 
Santa Anna, a town eighteen miles from Zonzonate. 
The roads were infested with ladrones, and travelling 
was considered unsafe in any quarter. We held a 
council of war, as to what rjburse it was advisable 
to pursue. Upon the whole, taking into considera- 
tion the revolutionary spirit which had already begun 
to manifest itself in Zonzonate, we came to the con- 
clusion that we should not add to our dangers, by 
being on the road, and concluded to start forthwith. 
It was necessary to be as quiet as possible in our 
preparations, for fear some of the marauders who 
were on the watch should learn our plans and des- 
tination and intercept us. A valuable auxiliary 
presented himself at this time in the person of a 
Mexicanized Englishman, who, thoroughly acquain- 
ted with the language and manners of the people, 
was intending to cross the continent to embark 
for England. Through his friends, he obtained a 
letter to the chief of Chiquimula, a large town which 
had just declared in favor of Carrera. Our road lay 
directly through it; and, in case of trouble, the letter 
might be serviceable. The government officers resid- 
ing at Zonzonate, gave us passports which would be 



THE DEPARTURE. 309 

equally useful, in case we met with any of the troops 
of Morazan, though it was a question whether they 
would not have proved a passport to greater ill-treat- 
ment, were they found upon us by the revolutionists. 
A trusty muleteer and two arrieros were engaged 
as far as Gualan, a town on the borders of the State 
of Honduras. 

Three weeks had been passed quite pleasantly 
in Zonzonate. Our worthy landlady, kind to the last, 
loaded our alforcas with bread and fowls, knowing 
that we should meet with none half so good after 
leaving her threshold. The smallness of her bill was 
a matter of universal surprise, expecting, as we did, 
that in that particular we should experience the usual 
fate of travellers. Light as were the charges, I hope, 
for her sake, that they were double the usual fares ; 
her bill would not have been disputed had we known 
them to be so. The reception we experienced on 
entering the country was so different from the 
treatment we received before we were able to bid it 
farewell, that it left a strong impression on our minds. 
We had been cautioned against taking medicines 
with us, or any thing, the nature of whose composi- 
tion we should have any decided objections to mak- 
ing a forced meal upon. Accordingly, our baggage 
was ransacked for all suspicious articles ; pills and 
powders, salves and ointments, lotions, and a host of 
quackery, were brought from their lurking-places, and 
speedily consigned to destruction. Some hungry 
fowls seized upon some pills which I threw away, 
and devoured them. Not being without some doubts 
as to their salutary effect upon chicken-nature, I was 
glad when the word was given to be off. 



310 LEAVE ZONZONATE. 

The lady followed us to the door ; and, as she bade 
us adios caballeros, uttered many good wishes for a 
safe journey. We thanked her, and sallied from the 
court-yard, a group, of which no adequate description 
can be given. Some women's faces are said to in- 
sure their protection the world over. Upon the same 
principle, our tout ensemble would have been as sure 
a safeguard ; though, if we had fallen in with any of 
the 'free brotherhood,' we should have been loth, 
notwithstanding any external similitude, to have 
claimed a relationship. The town had been searched 
for arms. Such as ihey were, they answered well 
enough for show. We were ten in number, includ- 
ing the muleteers and our beasts, fourteen, the extra 
number carrying the 'cargoes,' as our baggage was 
termed. Our order of march was single file, the only 
one the nature of the roads permitted. A little black 
mule had fallen to my lot. He was the least of all 
mules, but tough and active. The saddle with which 
he was surmounted left little of him visible, except 
his head and legs. Two blankets were thrown over 
it, and a hammock strapped to its back ; in front 
hung several pouches, containing the necessary vari- 
ety of a travellers stores, and an umbrella. In addi- 
tion to these were an extemporaneous cup and spoon, 
of our own manufacture, from gourds. Seated above 
all this gear, with legs dangling to the ground, and 
saved only by the immensity of the wooden stirrups 
and leather leggins from many a hard knock against 
rock and stump, rode myself. My costume was such 
as neither sun, rain, nor wind, could spoil. A pair 
of pistols in my belt, and a sword at my side, com- 



CORDILLERAS. 311 

pleted my equipments. My companions were cer- 
tainly no better accoutred ; some of them might, 
without attaching vanity to myself, be set down as 
something worse ; and certainly, a party of more la- 
drone looking travellers never gave spur to horse. 

After leaving town, our path lay, for some time, 
through a richly cultivated country, gradually ascend- 
ing until it reached the foot of the Cordilleras, where 
it became more abrupt. We were travelling towards 
the volcano of Itzalco. Every night, for several 
weeks, had we witnessed its fiery eruptions, and 
heard its bellowings. As we drew nearer its roar 
became more distinct, and the earth trembled beneath 
its heavy blasts. The path became steep and rocky, 
but the mules, accustomed to such labor, easily bore 
us up the precipitous defiles. We were now ad- 
vancing through a thick forest, whose giant trees and 
dense foliage were a subject of constant admiration. 
Every hour the scenery became more varied and in- 
teresting. The groves were alive with birds of the 
richest plumage, and resounded with the delightful 
notes of the mocking-bird, or the shrill screech of the 
paroquet. I was at the head of the party. In as- 
cending one of the steep defiles, amid a thick growth 
of trees and brush-wood, I was startled by the ap- 
pearance of a man with a pistol presented at me. I 
saw him but for an instant, for hearing the footsteps 
of the others approaching he disappeared so suddenly, 
that the headmost alone obtained a glimpse of him. 
But he was soon forgotten in the general admiration 
of the novel and beautiful scenes that were constantly 
appearing. All that is delightful and dangerous in a 



312 CORDILLERAS. 

tropical climate was around us. Venomous serpents, 
disturbed at our approach, glided away into thickets. 
At times, a deer would bound before us. The gor- 
geous wild turkey was seen perched over-head, and 
flocks of turtle-doves cooed their loves, regardless of 
our presence. It would have been fine sporting, had 
we possessed anything more destructive than a pistol. 
As it was, we could only gratify them with a smell 
of gunpowder, for the trees were too lofty for a ball 
to reach their retreats. The paroquets replied with 
a scream of defiance ; the others darted away in 
silence. 

The mountain became even more difficult of as- 
cent. In places, the path winding around peaks was 
so narrow, with a wall of stone on either side, that 
we were barely able to brush through. Our trunks 
had been well covered with matting, which saved 
them from being cut to pieces against the jagged 
points of projecting rocks. At intervals, we were 
able to catch a glimpse of the blue ocean. Zonzon- 
ate, though several leagues distant, seemingly Jay at 
our feet, as it appeared and disappeared amid the 
cluster of trees about us. Shortly, we were above 
the region of clouds, which formed beneath us an 
ocean of snowy vapor, overlaying all those pleasant 
scenes. The sun was near setting, and it was damp 
and cold. By the time we reached the rancho, where 
we were to pass the night, the chilliness had quite 
overcome us. A few hours before, we were among 
orange groves and sugar plantations ; here, the apple, 
peach, and strawberry were in full blossom, and the 
climate was like that of a cold spring morning in New 



VOLCANO OF ITZALCO. 313 

England. The rancho was owned by a Frenchman, 
who received us courteously, and prepared a supper, 
to which our appetites did ample justice. His hos- 
pitality to man and beast, for which he refused to re- 
ceive any recompense, was the more disinterested, as 
there was no water within six miles. The night was 
so cold, that we lay shivering under our blankets. 
The volcano of Itzalco was but a few miles distant, 
and its deep and tremendous roarings during the 
night, were fearful, and frequently roused us from our 
slumbers. At every explosion of its subterranean 
gases, as they escaped from its cone, the ground was 
shaken violently beneath us, and the motion commu- 
nicated to the house and beds. The noise might 
have been taken for the asthmatic breathing of a 
leviathan, or the united roaring of all the bulls of 
Bashan. Heavy columns of smoke, lighted momen- 
tarily by bright, sheets of flame, shot up, at intervals 
of a few minutes, and its boiling fires were clearly 
visible, their blood-red color heightened bv the dark 
outline of the mountains. The crater is dangerous 
to approach, on account of the showers of stones and 
ashes which are constantly discharged from its sev- 
eral orifices. While we were in Zonzonate, I fre- 
quently saw at night snake-like streams of liquid lava 
issuing from crevices near its summit, and pouring 
down its rugged sides. This volcano is yearly in- 
creasing in size, and becoming more destructive in 
its eruptions. It burst forth in its present situation 
near the close of the last century, and promises to be- 
come, before its fires are exhausted, one of the fiercest 
and most sublime of existing active volcanoes. 
27 



314 DRY AND WET SEASONS. 

It was late in the morning before we were able to 
start, the mules having been turned loose the evening 
before to browse ; an operation, we found to our 
cost, much easier than that of catching them. The 
scenery, in descending the mountain, was of the same 
character that we had passed through in the ascent. 
In the distance, craggy and barren ridges were dis- 
cernible, which betokened a fatiguing journey. It 
gradually grew hotter ; and by the time we reached 
the plains, the heat of a noon-tide tropical sun was 
pouring its pityless rays upon our heads. But, under 
the shelter of my umbrella, and a broad-brimmed 
Guayaquil sombrero, I travelled quite comfortably. 
The contrast between the w T estern sides and plains 
of the range of the Cordilleras, with those of the 
eastern, was great. The former, being well watered 
all the year, is clothed in perennial grren. With the 
latter, it was the dry season, answering to our winter, 
and the ground was parched and cracked by ihe 
heat. The leaves had departed from the trees ; all 
verdure was gone ; the rivulets dried up ; and barely 
a drop of water to be found in the beds of the larger 
streams. It was like crossing a cheerless desert. 
Earth, beast, and rider, were parched with thirst. 
During the rainy season, the whole appearance of the 
country is changed. It then flows with water, much 
of it is no better than a swamp, and vegetation shoots 
forward with astonishing vigor. 

We left the main track, and struck into a bye-path 
to avoid the town of Santa Anna, where Morazan, 
with his troops, lay watching the movements of Car- 
rera. Towards night we reached an Indian village, 



AN INDIAN VILLAGE. 315 

six miles from that place, and there prepared to pass 
the night. Our unexpected arrival created quite a 
stir among the dingy population. The women, how- 
ever, bestirred themselves, and provided a supper of 
stewed beans and tortillas. The men gazed stupidly 
at us. As we were slinging our hammocks to the 
trees, preparatory to a night's repose, several suspi- 
cious fellows, mestizoes, came up, and watched all 
our motions atlentively. They were all armed with 
long knives, and it was evident, from their behavior 
and conversation, that they intended to rob us during 
the night. But we were not to be caught napping. 
Having no fire-arms themselves, they feared ours 
greatly, and we prepared to give them a warm re- 
ception, should they make the attempt. Our baggage 
was collected into one pile, and two of our number 
stationed themselves upon it; the remainder retired 
to their hammocks, excepting those whose turn it 
was to mount guard. Surrounded, as we were, by 
secret foes, all upon the qui vive, we could get but 
little sleep ; and as our guard paced his rounds, his 
arms reflecting in the bright moonlight, with groups 
of restless sleepers, in quaint attire, our band resem- 
bled more the encampment of banditti, than of peace- 
ful travellers. We had with us a strapping negro, 
some six feet high, who looked a giant in comparison 
with the Central Americans, who are a race of man- 
ikins. This fellow was an object of admiration 
wherever we went, and, although the veriest coward 
that ever wielded a cutlass, his company proved quite 
a safeguard, the inhabitants probably estimating his 
prowess by his size. He carried a gun of propor- 



316 CHANGE OF ROUTE. 

tionate length of barrel to his own limbs. Like him- 
self, it was an admirable scare-crow, and would have 
been very serviceable in supplying us with game, 
had it not been deficient in a lock. This fact we 
took especial care, for obvious reasons, to conceal. 
At the farther end of our encampment was the In- 
dian hut, where we had supped. The Ethiopian 
was on guard, with his back to the house, when a 
shutter was slowly opened, and several heads cau- 
tiously protruded, eyeing the sleepers, (as they sup- 
posed us,) with peculiar satisfaction. All at once 
they espied our protecting Sambo, whose huge di- 
mensions, augmented by the shades of night, seemed 
to them a greater bugbear than ever. A conversa- 
tion was then carried on in whispers, of which we 
could gather only that he was un grandote, and 
altogether too formidable a subject to be assaulted. 
Having settled the matter among themselves, they 
withdrew, and left us in quiet for the remainder of 
the night. 

Early the next morning we were off, well pleased 
to leave such quarters. Our plan was now to strike 
into the least inhabited portions of the country, and, 
as far as possible, leave no track of our route, or give 
any hints as to that which we were to pursue. None 
of us felt disposed to magnify the dangers of the way ; 
but the reports of the fugitives, whom we frequently 
met. flying from the seat of war, convinced us that 
discretion was the better part of valor, and that it was 
good policy to give neither party an opportunity of 
relieving us of such baggage, as they might consider 
inconsistent with safe journeying, in so disturbed a 



AN INDIAN HAMLET. 317 

country. Moreover, our muleteer had a prudent re- 
gard for his animals, and the pay he was to receive. 
His opinion of his countrymen was quite as bad as 
ours. Bv avoiding the abodes of men, we met with 
other annoyances. The forests were alive with 
countless millions of an insect, called * garrapatos,' a 
species of tick, so minute as to appear more like 
black dust, than animal life. Although so small at 
first, if allowed to attach themselves to the body, they 
soon work their way beneath the cuticle, where they 
grow to the size of a pea, and, unless immediately 
extirpated, occasion painful sores. The mules suf- 
fered severely from them, and we only evaded their 
insidious propensities, by carefully picking and 
shaking them from our clothes at every stopping- 
place ; a work, which required much time and pa- 
tience, and occasionally obliged us to resort to a knife 
to cut them out from beneath the skin. 

During the afternoon, we arrived at an Indian 
hamlet, on the shore of a lake, embosomed amid 
lofty and precipitous mountains. Swans, cranes, 
and numerous other birds, were sporting on its sur- 
face, and near its banks was arare and beautiful spe- 
cies of Achatina. It was so retired a spot, that we 
determined to go no farther before morning. The 
inhabitants were few, primitive in their habits, and 
apparently inoffensive. At all events, their conduct 
was verv different from those that we left in the 

J 

morning. They were kind, but not inquisitive. 
Having prepared our encampment under the shelter 
of a thatched shed, with open sides, we hurried to 
the lake for a bath. At our approach, a herd of wild 
27* 



318 A SUBMERGED TOWN. 

cattle manifested decided disapprobation at our in- 
vasion of their territory, and some savage old bulls 
were disposed to charge upon us. Bat a show of 
courage, the report of a few pistols, and more par- 
ticularly, the presence of an Indian lad, caused them 
to yield ground, and to leave us in peaceable pos- 
session. 

This lake, we learned, according to an old tradi- 
tion, was once the site of a large aboriginal town, 
which had been submerged, no one can tell how long 
ago, by an earthquake. Its appearance justified the 
tale. It was situated in one of those wild, irregular 
districts, such as it would be imagined dame Nature 
would select for some high frolic, or to vent long- 
pent wrath, caring little for cities ruined, or moun- 
tains rent. 

The next day, my little mule made its escape. 
It took the road that led to Zonzonate, and occupied 
its owner a day before it was captured. This delay 
some of our number were disposed to grumble at ; 
but it proved a providential circumstance. Had we 
proceeded that morning, as we intended, we should 
have fallen in with a party of ladrones, who, as we 
were afterwards informed, were on our track; but 
not meeting us, as they anticipated, gave up the 
chase. 

Once again in the saddle, our course led through 
a more fertile country, abounding in sugar planta- 
tions. We were now in the State of Guatimala, 
and consequently on the contested ground ; but the 
war had not yet reached this quarter, and we passed 
a quiet night in the forest, under the shelter of a hut. 



A FRESH ALARM. 319 

Early the ensuing morning, we were mounted and 
away. A dangerous track of country lay before 
us. A guide waft obtained, who conducted us 
through tangled morasses, and villainous swamps, 
almost impassable then, and entirely so during the 
rainy season, until we arrived upon the border of a 
barren prairie. A large village lay some distance to 
the left. We hurried rapidly on, the distance pre- 
venting the inhabitants from distinguishing us from 
a company of muleteers. The plain was thickly 
studded with cactus, and abounded with wild fowl, 
so tame as scarcely to trouble themselves to get out 
of the way. A solitary house, rising by itself from 
the plain, like a rock in the ocean, afforded us shel- 
ter for the night. We had not been there an hour 
before a fierce-looking fellow, riding a noble steed 
came galloping furiously up to the door, and after 
exchanging a few words with the owner, rode as 
rapidly away. Our fears subsided, when we were 
informed that he was merely under the influence of 
aguadiente, and a wedding frolic. 

By light the next morning we had drank our 
chocolate from our gourd-cups, and were once more 
on the road which was the common track to Chiqui- 
mula, the capital of the department of the same 
name, and at this time the strong-hold of the insur- 
rectionists. We crossed a battle-plain, famed in the 
revolutionary annals of the country, and which still 
bore marks of human strife upon its surface. Our ride 
was an excessively wearisome one, and it was late 
before we arrived at the village of St. Helena, which 
we found in considerable commotion in consequence 



320 



BAD NEWS. A COUNCIL. 



of a levy made by the governor of Chiquimula upon 
its young men, for soldiers. We here got something 
to eat, and heard bad news. Chiquknula was but three 
leagues distant. If the plague had been raging wilhin 
its walls, we should not have been more desirous of 
avoiding it. The officer to whom we had letters 
had left but the day before, with five hundred 
troops, for Gualimala, so that all hopes of friendly 
interference in that quarter were destroyed. The 
city was in great confusion ; the people of the ham- 
let eyed us with scowling looks, and appeared to think 
not all right. We were in the interior of the country ; 
to retreat was impracticable; to advance was un- 
pleasant, to say the least. From existing symptoms 
it would be unsafe to remain, even that night, where 
we were. A council was held in the house of the 
two Indians, young men, to which our muleteers 
had brought us. They had been pressed to serve in 
the army, and were anxious to avoid the service. 
They appeared to be clever, honest fellows; our 
muleteer was willing to trust them, and we concluded 
to do the same. Thev agreed to conduct us to the 
boundaries of the State of Honduras, for which we 
were to pay them handsomely. The zeal which they 
manifested in our cause struck us as favorable. Our 
mules were unloaded and turned out to feed, while 
we slung our hammocks and prepared for a night's 
slumber. These preparations, however, were only 
to lull the suspicions of the watchful inhabitants. 
As soon as they had retired, and the darkness favored 
our operations, the mules were noiselessly saddled, 
our arms carefully examined, and w T e stole quietly 



A NIGHT MARCH. 321 

out of the village. By the time the moon had risen 
we were far on our way to Chiquimula. Journeying 
on in silence, the white towers of the city soon be- 
came visible. 

Until this time, we had supposed some byroad 
would enable us to pass the city unseen. But the 
guides declared there was none, and our only alter- 
native was to push quickly through before an alarm 
could be spread. Our spirits rose with the danger, 
and the romance of the adventure had sufficient 
charms to blind us to what might be its fatal realities. 
It was now past midnight, and the moon shone bright 
and unclouded. We were confident, that the intelli- 
gence of our design had not preceded us ; still, no 
little anxiety was felt, as one by one we ascended 
the steep ravine which led to the town, and found 
ourselves treading its narrow streets. 

Silence and expedition were the watchwords. The 
mules were hurried on, by dint of spurring and blows, 
to an unaccustomed rapidity. Poor brutes! they had 
been both dinnerless and supperless that day, and 
panting and almost exhausted by the extra labor they 
were obliged to endure, their empty stomachs, as they 
trotted on, began to give out sundry distressing sounds, 
much like the ringing of an empty cask. The slightest 
noise seemed to our excited nerves louder than a 
chime of bells. A man stops our guide. He informs 
him that we are country merchants, leaving for home. 
' A very early hour to start,' quoth he, and passes on. 
The centre of the town was reached, and all remains 
quiet. Suddenly the guides stop, and consult. One 
leaves us. Can he prove treacherous ? No ; he 



322 EFFORTS TO CAPTURE US. 

went but to reconnoitre, and has returned. The de- 
lay gave time for the patrol to turn their backs upon 
us, as they passed down a neighboring street. One 
minute sooner, and we should have been challenged 
by them. Lights were in many of the houses, and 
as we proceeded a dog barked, and the bark echoed 
from street to street, until every yelping cur in the 
town had a voice in the chorus. The citizens rushed 
to their doors, in astonishment at such an outcry, and 
in stupefied wonder beheld the curious procession 
pass by them. Two men with muskets intercepted 
our course; we spurred on. The muskets proved to 
be clubs. Even the mules seemed now to renew 
their energies, and bore us so rapidly to the extrem- 
ity of the town, that we had fairly passed the outer 
fortifications, before the watchmen's whistle had 
spread the alarm throughout the city ; and, before its 
thirty-seven thousand inhabitants had any clear idea 
of its cause, we had gainc d the woods. Luckily, as 
we afterwards w T ere told, all the horses had been sent 
off the day previous with the expedition against 
Guatimala, which alone saved us from an immediate 
pursuit. 

Our situation was now far from enviable. The 
fear of surprise alone kept us awake. Hungry, and 
exhausted with fatigue, we looked about for a lurking- 
place, and finally ensconced ourselves in the rocky 
bed of a dry river. The mules were unloaded and 
turned out to rest; the scant herbage they could 
could glean could scarcely be called food. A little 
water was found for them. As for ourselves, we re- 
mained through the succeeding day without shelter; 



A HOT HIDING-PLACE. 323 

for the forest was entirely leafless, exposed to the 
fierce rays of the sun, heated to twofold intensity by 
reflection from the volcanic rocks, which formed our 
only bed. Sleep was altogether out of the question. 
The heat was intense, for it was the hottest day that 
we had experienced in the country, and not a breath 
of wind to mitigate it. We dared not stir from our 
hiding-place, for fear of discovery ; and could con- 
verse only in whispers. Our guides, to whom the 
country was familiar, went oul reconnoitring, and 
returned with the information, that strict search was 
being made for us. Several of our number imme- 
diately protected their most valuable papers, and con- 
cealing them about their persons prepared for a 
speedy flight on foot, in case of discovery. A hope- 
less chance, but one they preferred, to encountering 
the tender mercies of Carrera's banditti. A few cold 
tortillas, the last of our provisions, were equally di- 
vided ; but we were too tired to eat ; and as for water, 
none, except the smallest quantity gathered from the 
hollow of a heated rock, was to be had. Never was 
night more heartily welcomed, though bringing fresh 
dangers in its train. The mules were again saddled, 
and with the utmost secrecy we recommenced our 
flight. The friendly State of Honduras was now 
distant but forty miles, and our object was to distance 
pursuit by getting within its territory. 

Another populous town, Zacapa, lay between us 
and Gualan, the boundary town of the province. 
The whole country was now upon the alert, for ex- 
presses had been sent in every direction to apprehend 
us ; but, this place once in our rear, we felt assured of 



324 A COURIER. 

safety. Much time was consumed in ascending a 
steep mountain. It was so dark that objects only at 
a short distance were visible. This was favorable to 
us. When half-way up, a man on foot, travelling 
much faster than we, passed our party. He was a 
courier, bearing an order to Zacapa for our arrest, as 
we soon after learned. Upon reaching the summit, 
the lights of Chiquimula could be plainly seen. Nu- 
merous watch-fires were also observed on the sur- 
rounding heights. Despite our alarm and fatigue, 
we could not refrain from a hearty laugh, when pic- 
turinor to ourselves the astonishment and chagrin of 
its inhabitants at our audacious exploit. If our en- 
tree had been noiseless and humble, our egress had 
stirred them up considerably. The descent of Mor- 
azan and his troops into their plain would scarcely 
have created more excitement. But the times were 
troublesome, and it was a wild game that they were 
playing; many that saw its commencement lay 
senseless and unburied clods upon the battle-field, or 
fell beneath the assassin's blade, before it was won. 
At that time we should have felt much more uneasy, 
had we been fully aware of the sanguinary principle 
that was abroad in the land. In this country, at any 
time, life is but little valued ; at the present it was 
taken as a pastime, under circumstances of horrible 
cruelty, which in modern times find their parallel 
only among the hybrid population, sprung from the 
same races, in South America. The descent from 
the mountain was even more arduous than the as- 
cent. It was too dark to discover even the path, and 
we trusted entirely to our mules. Thev stumbled 



A HARD ROAD AND A THIRSTY PARTY. 325 

frequently over the loose stones with which the road 
was strewed, and after several hours' severe exertion 
carried us safely to the dusty plain beneath. We 
hurried them on. The soil was a dry chalk, which, 
rising in clouds, soon gave our company the appear- 
ance of a band of millers ; it also penetrated our 
nostrils and mouths, and irritated the already burn- 
ing thirst with which a fast of twenty-four hours had 
consumed both man and beast. It soon became in- 
supportable ; my tongue seemed like a piece of 
shrunken leather, and rattled strangely around my 
mouth. Not a drop of moisture could I conjure up 
to wet my shrivelled lips ; my eyeballs were heated 
and distended. At every footstep the fine white dust 
rose in clouds, and settled over us. Suddenly a joy- 
ful sound was heard. It was the purling noise of 
running water. Never did a famishing caravan in 
the wilderness of Arabia hail the appearance of an 
oasis with more ardor' than we the sight of Zacapa 
river. Down its banks we rushed. Attached to my 
saddle was a water-proof basket, such as is made in 
California. It had served thus far for a wash-basin ; 
now it answered for a drinking-vessel. Filling it to 
the brim, I drank from it the longest, sweetest draught 
that ever a thirsty traveller knew. Again filling it, I 
plunged my face into the cool liquid, bathed it, and 
bathed it again ; men and beasts about me were fol- 
lowing my example. It was at once the freest gift 
of Providence, and the most choice luxury man can 
know. We had arrived at that degree of thirst, that 
it would have been agony to have gone farther, un- 
relieved: the pleasure of the first draught was un» 
28 



326 PASS ZACAPA. 

speakablc. I filled my basket for the third time, and 
spurring my mule from the spot, for he seemed 
equally fascinated with its refreshing powers, rode on 
with it before me, drinking and dipping into it, until 
by an unlucky jolt it was all spilled. 

The moon had arisen, and by its light we were 
soon able to see the white-washed houses of Zacapa 
glistening directly in front. With the utmost cau- 
tion, and in single file, we pushed through its out- 
skirts, sometimes passing within a few feet of houses 
where all appeared buried in slumber. The very 
dogs kept quiet; if some solitary cur at intervals 
opened his noisy throat, the cry was unreturned. It. 
was a most lovely night ; and, with the exception of 
ourselves, everything was as still as the grave. 
Avoiding the town all that it was possible to do, we 
wound around the numerous hills in its vicinity, eye- 
ing its streets with suspicion, anon stopping to re- 
connoitre some doubtful point, then hurrying breath- 
lessly onward. Unfortunately we became perplexed 
and entangled amid a labyrinth of cultivated and 
enclosed grounds. A hurried consultation ensued, 
while the guides sought an outlet. One was at 
length discovered ; it was, however, one that a pru- 
dent regard for our necks would have counselled us 
to avoid, but which the urgency of the case com- 
pelled us to take. A steep gulley led to the river's 
bank, a hundred feet or so beneath, and at its head 
stood a cottage. A fence was taken down, and re- 
placed. Passing so near the house as to brush 
against its eaves, we forced our mules to the brink 
of the slippery precipice. With their characteristic 



A DILEMMA. 327 

instinct, they drew all four feet together, and sitting 
on their haunches slid rapidly and safely to the bot- 
tom, while we kept our seats by clinging to their 
necks. Fording the river, and rising the opposite 
hill, we reached a level plain, with two paths in view. 
By diverging so frequently to avoid the thickly-in- 
habited parts of the town our guides had lost the run 
of the true course. One of them retraced his steps, 
entered the town, and came back by the correct road. 
He reported all quiet, and we moved on. It was 
now three o'clock, A. 3VL, and the distance to Hon- 
duras was short, and the road plain. Our guides 
were dismissed with an ample recompense, and they 
bade us good by, with many wishes for our safe re- 
treat. Anoiher mountain, or more properly a long 
and rough hill, was before us. Sleep, to which we 
had been strangers for the last forty- eight hours, be- 
gan insidiously to steal over us, and overpowered the 
sense of hunger, which for some time had been 
rather pressing in its calls. But this drowsiness, 
unlike the thirst we had encountered, was an agree- 
able enemy. It crept over one so gently, and with 
such pleasing sensations, that we knew not of its ap- 
proach until it had fastened itself securely upon us. 
Several times I fell asleep on my mule, and was only 
awakened by a rude shock which destroyed my bal- 
ance. Finding it impossible to preserve my seat, I 
rubbed open my eyes, pinched myself, and got off 
and walked. But this was of no use. I soon again 
sank into a state of unconsciousness, from which it 
was misery to be aroused. In this way we walked 
on, alive only to our situation for a few minutes, by 



328 SAN PABLO. A HALT. 

stumbling against some protruding stone; then giv- 
ing a glance at the road ahead, the eyes would again 
close, in spite of every exertion to keep them open, 
until a fresh stumble recalled the slumbering senses* 
The mere pain of attempting to keep awake was in- 
tolerable ; the hardest rock would have been a wel- 
come bed. Even the poor brutes began to give evi- 
dence of the same unconquerable weariness. At 
times they would come to a dead halt, and settle 
down, refusing to proceed farther until coaxed and 
driven by the muleteers. 

In this manner we reached the Indian village of 
San Pablo, now mostly deserted, the cholera having 
the previous year carried off the greater proportion 
of the inhabitants. Passing through it, we noticed a 
ruined church and calaboose. At the foot of the 
hill on which they stood, we crossed a small stream. 
Gualan was now but a few leagues distant. It 
was our intention to have crossed the boundary 
line of the contending States that morning. Daylight 
had already broken, and both we and our beasts 
were too thoroughly exhausted to proceed farther. 
Rest we must have, be the consequences what they 
might. A couple of hours would enable us to pro- 
ceed. The loads were tipped off the jaded mules, 
and they and their masters, in less time than I have 
taken to write it, were stretched out on the grass, 
wrapped in sound slumbers. 

How long we lay thus, I know not; but a hoarse 
voice, calling us to surrender, first aroused our leth- 
argic faculties; and the sight of several brace of pis- 
tols pointed at our heads soon recalled us to con- 



SLUMBERS INTERRUPTED. CAPTURED. 329 

sciousness of passing events. The sun was shining 
brightly and hotly upon us, and a large body of sol- 
diers stood stupidly gazing at our prostrate selves, 
seemingly as much amazed at the scene as we were. 
They were evidently forced recruits, a puny, ragged 
set of fellows, of all colors, looking as if they would 
gladly exchange their muskets and knapsacks for 
hoes and a field of maize. But their leaders were 
fine-looking men, well-dressed and armed, and 
mounted on good horses. Their uniforms looked 
too new and shining to be many days old, and their 
first service in the campaign was our capture. Of 
course we surrendered peaceably and with all grace ; 
for there they were above us, with their pistols pre- 
pared to enforce their summons. 

The sense of the ludicrous would have overcome 
my gravity, had not the scowling looks and fierce 
glances of our captors reminded me that we were in 
the hands of those with whom power was law. Here 
were upwards of seventy men employed to capture 
seven half-starved travellers, who, if their will to re- 
sist had been good, had not the means. Our equip- 
ments, indeed, excited their risibles, as they read the 
decree for our arrest, given at Chiquimuia. It de- 
scribed us as a well-armed party of foreigners, con- 
veying treasure clandestinely out of the country, and 
who, in defiance of their established regulations, had 
passed through their territories. In conclusion it en- 
joined all patriotic inhabitants to aid in seizing and 
bringing us to punishment. The paper was suffi- 
ciently formidable to have annihilated us. But its 
warlike phraseology proved a sad stumbling-block to 
28^ 



330 AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND. 

the courage of the gallant alcalde of San Pablo, who 
was deputized to see it carried into effect. His vil- 
lage could not boast a sufficient number of volun- 
teers, who were willing to risk their persons in con- 
tact with a party of ' well-armed foreigners ; ' and 
had he not accidentally fallen in with these troops, 
who were convoying arms to Chiquimula, we should, 
for all him, have made our escape. This he after- 
wards confessed to us, when we became better 
friends. As it was, with his silver-headed cane, the 
insignium of his office, pointed at us, in one hand, 
and holding the order for our arrest in the other, he 
ensconced himself behind his military companions. 
From this position, so judiciously chosen, he ordered 
us to prison. But as that order implied the neces- 
sity of reascending the steep hill which we had so 
recently passed over, we flatly refused, intimating 
that if we went at all, he must find the means of 
carrying us. 

The captain of the soldiers attracted attention from 
the beauty of his figure and person ; he was indeed 
a remarkably good-looking man. It so happened, 
that while we were cogitating some plan for escap- 
ing from the clutches of these fellows, our office-seek- 
ing friend, the spirit of his profession no doubt sud- 
denly inspiring him, remarked that this captain 
looked like a gentleman. To our astonishment, he 
immediately spoke to us courteously in English, and 
from his altered demeanor seemed desirous of retain- 
ing that opinion. That chance expression turned 
the scale of our destiny; and instead of the horrors 
of a Chiquimula calaboose, thoughts of home took 



AN UNEXPECTED FRIEND. 



331 



possession of us. Explanations soon satisfied him 
that we were strangers in the country, as desirous of 
leaving it as the most fanatical of his party were for 
having us expelled ; and instead of treasure, they 
themselves were not more deficient in the article than 
we. But what especially mollified him, next to the 
personal compliment, was to find us citizens of the 
United States; for his party was particularly inim- 
ical to Englishmen. He immediately claimed us as 
compatriots, and said, although he was by birth an 
Italian, he considered himself a citizen of the great 
republic, having resided there seven years. The 
production of our letters to the commandant of Chi- 
quimula wonderfully advanced us in his favor, al- 
though at the recapitulation of our midnight march 
he shook his head, and intimated that it would have 
fared ill with us, had we been apprehended. While 
we yankees were thus insinuating ourselves into the 
good graces of our adopted countrymen, our Anglo- 
Mexican auxiliary was no less dexterous and success- 
ful with the full-blooded Central Americans. He 
was accustomed to revolutions, having lived for 
many years in one of the most inflammable states of 
Mexico. He assured them that their cause was one 
of the most glorious on record; that history, and 
above all, Mexico, their rival republic, where he had 
lived so long, could produce nothing equal to it. In 
short, he made them think so well of themselves that 
they could not do otherwise, from mere sympathy, 
than think well of us, so that in a half-hour from our 
capture we had become the best friends possible, and 
they were really sorry they had disturbed the slum- 



332 



IiELEAS*:. 



bers of so many gentlemen for so trivial a cause as 
a paltry alcalde. They undertook to procure from 
the powers that were, a release from any farther at- 
tentions on his part, and a safe conduct for the re- 
mainder of our journey. The Italian rode on to 
Chiquimula himself, to see that the necessary papers 
were sent. We had made a strong interest in the 
right quarter; still their superiors might desire a per- 
sonal interview, and the very idea made us nervous. 
Guards were placed over us ; these claimed a liberal 
fee for their kind protection. Before night, the al- 
calde, who would not leave us, claimed a similar 
donative, and suggested to us the propriety of our 
sleeping within the walls of the calaboose, as he 
could not be answerable for any violence committed 
upon us in so exposed a situation. His oifer was 
most decidedly declined. There might be felons 
about us in the open air; within prison walls they 
would have been nearer still; and there is but one 
key to unlock the door of a Spanish jail — a golden 
one. 

Our papers arrived the next morning. Once more 
at liberty, we rode gayly on, now straggling from each 
other and the road, admiring the varied prospect, 
shouting and singing more like boys escaped from 
the durance-vile of school-hours than sober travellers, 
The road was through a mountainous but delightful 
country ; vegetation was luxuriant, and the country 
bright with fknvers. In the distance rose the moun- 
tains of Vera-Paz to the height of seven thousand 
feet, bounding the horizon like a mighty wall. Close 
to us the Motagua river flowed swiftly along: birds, 



AN INCIDENT. 333 

crocodiles, and Indian girls, were bathing in its 
waters. The sun being oppressive, I raised my um- 
brella; two countrymen passing by, one remarked to 
the other, * the foreigner must either be a fool or 
drunk, to raise an umbrella in a country where it 
never rained.' At the same instant, a gust of wind, 
indignant no doubt at the imputations cast upon my 
character, undertook to relieve me of all suspicion, 
and gave it a whirl; away it went, topsy-turvy, helter- 
skelter, over bush and brier, now flying high, now 
low, but never altogether alighting. Not at all grate- 
ful for the zeal so unceremoniously displayed in my 
behalf, I clapped spurs to my mule, and gave it 
chase. Coming up with it, I dismounted, thinking 
it secure in my grasp, when a fresh guft gave it a 
new impetus, and away it flew, faster than before. 
Chagrined, I turned to mount my beast. But he 
gave his heels a scornful toss, and took French leave 
also. The umbrella cut queer antics, but he cut 
queerer. Had he been any one's else mule, I should 
have voted him a funny fellow. As it was, I con- 
sidered him a bore. Several times he allowed me 
to approach near enough to touch him ; then he 
bounded away again, and keeping a few feet only in 
advance, trudged on as soberly as if it were no joke. 
I felt disposed to bestow a hearty malediction upon 
him for his impudence, but swallowed it, reflecting 
that he had but caught the spirit of the party, and 
his conduct was fully as sensible as mine had been, 
with rather a mulish way of exhibiting it, to be sure. 
Then he was such a little mule, and we had been 
friends through so many toilsome days, that I could 



334 li UAL AX. 

not find it in my heart to strike him; so on we 
trudged, neighborly as ever, keeping our respective 
distances, till having lost me my umbrella, and given 
me as good a sweat as I had the hour before given 
him, he quit his pranks, and returned to his alle- 
giance. 

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Guaian, and 
reached the alcalde's just as he was issuing an order 
for our arrest. Our passports set him right, and we 
put him into good humor, by promising to hire 
mules of him for our next day's journey. Guaian 
is a small town situated on the banks of the Mota- 
gua river, which empties into' the Gulf of Mexico at 
Omoa. Between the two places there is some trade, 
by means of large boats. The few shops \viw well 
supplied with American and English goods. Few 
names, I suspect, circulate more extensively than A. 
and A. Lawrence. I had seen them before in Chili 
and Peru, in the cotton linings to a Hawaiian hab- 
itation, and here they were in the interior of one of 
the wildest and least known of the countries of the 
globe. We joined the inhabitants in an evening 
bath in the river. Our Italian friend had recom- 
mended us for quarters to a lady of his acquaint- 
ance, who lived in a very large but very dirty house. 
Next door was a much superior mansion ; a fair 
young girl was at the window. This house belonged 
to the Italian, and the girl was his — housekeeper, 
perhaps. Our landlady was old and crabbed. Her 
neck sustained an enormous goitre. With all her 
surliness, she did not turn us from her door. Span- 
ish hospitality would have been outraged at such an 



MICO MOUNTAIN. 335 

act. But she gave us a large shed, mostly filled 
with merchandise, for our sleeping apartment. As 
to eating, we had grown accustomed to short com- 
mons, but hers were but a touch above actual starva- 
tion. We were obliged to remain one day under 
her roof, and the bill she produced was proportion- 
ate only to her want of amiability. We gladly paid 
it for the privilege of being out of the hearing of her 
tonsrue. 

Leaving Gualan, in two days we reached a ran- 
cho at the foot of Mico mountain, which was as far 
as our mules had been hired for. The country through 
which we rode was equally as rich, though differing 
in features from the Pacific side. It was a luxurious 
wilderness; but few inhabitants were met on the 
w T hole route ; the land was broken and mountainous, 
covered with greensward and a growth of noble 
forest trees. They were so free from underbrush, 
that the landscape in many places resembled more a 
cultivated park than the wildness of nature. 

Mico mountain, the great highway from the gulf 
into the interior of the country, lay before us. All 
the fatigue that we had heretofore undergone was 
nothing compared with the trip over ' the mountain.' 
The distance to Isabel is but a few miles, but those 
miles require a day of unremitting toil. Mules are 
kept expressly for this travel, and a more trying road 
for man or beast cannot be found. Rocks and mud, 
sloughs and precipices, fallen trees and tangled veg- 
etation, rain, and a slippery, soft soil, so overshadow- 
ed by the forest as to entirely exclude the rays of the 
sun, have all conspired to produce the worst possible 



336 MICO MOUNTAIN. 

road. Several times the animals foundered in the 
mud ; as often they tripped over stones, or rolled 
down some slippery pass. Their motion over the 
best part of the way was like that of a small vessel 
in a heavy cross sea, of a calm day, twisting, pitch- 
ing, and rolling every way at once. We had no 
time to expend our sympathies on them ; it was as 
much as we could attend to, to keep ourselves from 
being brained against huge overhanging branches, 
or our limbs from being crushed by projecting rocks. 
The water lay several feet deep in holes ; blue mud 
in others. Roots of trees like complicated net-work 
obstructed the path. In single file, the mules slowly 
proceeded, now cautiously feeling their way ; anon 
making a false step, and rolling themselves and rider 
on the spongy earth ; but the road is indescribable ; 
suffice it to say, that having 'crossed the mountain,' 
Ave rode for a mile or more through the bed of a 
river. So plastered were we from head to foot with 
red clayey mud, that water could not efface it, and 
we made our entree into Isabel in just such a plight 
as all travellers from the same direction appear. 
The inhabitants were accustomed to the sight ; else- 
where we should have been mistaken for animated 
masses of soil. We had letters to a rich old Span- 
iard, or rather we had had them, and they were lost; 
riding to his door, we endeavored to explain matters, 
but he churlishly ordered us off, adding that we were 
suspicious looking fellows, and he would have noth- 
ing to do with us. A glance at our array convinced 
me, that, as far as appearances were concerned, he 
was not much out of the way, and I forgave him, a? 



ISABEL. 337 

trouble, mistrust, and cruel deeds were stalking 
abroad over the land. Turning from his house, we 
secured a resting-place in the hut of a less captious 
individual. Having bathed, we slung our hammocks 
for a night's rest. But it was a season of festival 
among the tawny population, and fire-works, drums, 
trumpets, and shouting kept us awake until near 
morning. Our baggage arrived during the day, 
though somewhat contrary to our expectations, as it 
was reported to contain treasure. But everywhere 
we found the muleteers civil and honest. 

Isabel is a flourishing town, of recent growth, 
though in a most unhealthy location. It is bordered 
by low, wet land, covered with the dankest vegeta- 
tion. Rains are very abundant, and the heat of the 
sun overpowering. Indeed, it is considered no better 
than a grave, for a foreign constitution. The inhab- 
itants are thin and sallow. Despite its climate, and 
the execrable Mico mountain, it has become the 
principal port of entry for the eastern coast of Cen- 
tral America. It is situated on the Gulf of Dulce ? 
so called from the sweetness of its waters, and fifty 
miles from its mouth. Through this avenue most of 
the goods destined for the interior are sent, and re- 
turns made in indigo and cochineal. There were a 
few wooden houses, covered with mould, but which 
looked as if they had been imported from the United 
States. Vessels drawing above eight feet of water 
cannot cross the bar at the mouth of the gulf. A 
fine Spanish schooner, bound in a few weeks for 
Havana, lay off the town. It was not pleasant 
to be obliged to wait so long to leave so detestable a 
29 



33S GULF OF DULCE. 

place. Luckily in a few days an English steamer 
arrived ; she was to leave again in a short time for 
the bar. The authorities obliged us to pay five dol- 
lars each for the privilege of leaving their soil. We 
bade them adios with a right good will, and embark- 
ed in the steamer. The scenery of the gulf proved 
exceedingly interesting ; as it approaches the ocean 
it narrows to a river of but a few rods in width. 
On either side, the banks presented a wall of rock 
from three to five hundred feet in height, and covered 
with vegetation. The luxuriant foliage spread itself 
to the water's edge ; and shrubs and trees attached 
themselves to the rock in such profuseness as to leave 
scarcely a trace of it visible. This portion of the 
river is eight miles in length, and very serpentine. 
At intervals the boat appeared to be enclosed within 
a basin of solid stone, with no outlet except the sky 
above. Through these wild gorges the steamer 
rushes with great rapidity, and, with the additional 
power of steam, propelled the boat so fast that noth- 
ing less than magic seemed to save her, as her bow 
dashed around some projecting palisade, her stern 
almost touching the opposite mountain rampart. In 
one of the craggy crevices, a spring of water 
was boiling up through the superincumbent cold, 
creating a constant volume of steam. 

The steamer went no further than the bar. The coast 
was low, and covered with giant trees, under the shade 
of which negro wood-cutters had built their huts. 
A long ground-swell came lazily tumbling in. We 
boarded a New York brig, that was lying here, taking 
in a cargo of mahogany. Some of our party concluded 



BOAT NAVIGATION. 339 

to remain on board until her departure for the United 
States. Three of us chartered a boat, with a couple 
of negro boys, to- take us to the English settlement at 
Balize. The boat had something of a deck, and 
sailed very well. But we were more cramped and 
confined in her than we had previously been on our 
mules. The black urchins were careless ; the weather 
proved rainy and squally ; we were repeatedly wet, 
and dried again by the scorching sun. We dared 
not sleep under cover, except when it was calm, for 
fear 'of being capsized. The wind being ahead most 
of the time, we were four days before reaching Ba- 
lize. Our course lay through the Cayos, or Keys, 
numerous little islands, with which this coast is bor- 
dered, forming a most picturesque archipelago. They 
were formerly a great resort for bullock-hunters and 
buccaneers. A few runaway negroes now form 
their sole population. Some of them are large, 
verdant islands, well stocked with game ; others 
are from a rood to an acre only in extent, formed 
entirely of the roots of shrubs and trees growing ap- 
parently from out the sea, with but such slight soil 
as such a loose chevaux de frise can sustain. The 
navigation among these numerous islands in good 
weather is delightful. The water shoals in many 
places to a few feet only in depth, affording the voy- 
ager a fine view of the submarine garden, which, 
with its corals, madrepores, shells, and fishes darting 
among them, affords an almost endless variety of 
tints and shapes. Indeed, it may well compare 
with a meadow, blooming with flowers. By the 
third day, our provisions and water were all con- 



340 BALIZE. 

sumed ; on a small island a little of the latter, muddy 
and brackish, was discovered. Our tea held out, and 
by making it very strong it proved a stimulus, though 
not much of a nutriment, to our exhausted frames. 
By the time the anchor was dropped in the harbor of 
Balize, we were completely famished, and in addi- 
tion, I was attacked by fever and chills ; mementos 
of my trip, which stuck close to me for months af- 
terwards. 

In the afternoon, I strolled about the town. It 
is a place of considerable trade, being an enterport 
for goods for Guatimala, Honduras, and the southern 
states of Mexico. During the business season, its 
population is greatly increased, by settlers along the 
coast, who come in to sell their lumber and purchase 
their supplies for the wood-cutting season. Its ex- 
ports amount to two millions of dollars annually. 
Approaching it from the sea, it appears much like 
one of our neat, wooden-built towns in New Eng- 
land. We were the more struck with its home-like 
appearance, from the contrast it presented with the 
massive and low stone habitations and cane huts of 
the country we had just left. The neighboring 
country is a mere swamp, with a river running 
through it, which bisects the town, and is spanned 
by a handsome bridge. All the land is made ; much 
of it is brought from England ; there being a law re- 
quiring every vessel to bring a certain quantity of 
earth as ballast ; so that its inhabitants, though exiled 
from the homes of merry England, to one of the least 
desirable spots for a residence, still may be said to 
dwell on English soil. The town consists, principal- 



ARRIVE HOME. 341 

ly, of two streets, running parallel with each other 
and the water, for about two miles. The government 
buildings and Episcopal church are neat, and in good 
taste ; but the dampness of the climate has left its 
marks upon the wooden structures, greatly disfigur- 
ing them. 

On the 24th of March, I arrived at New York in 
an English brig; thus completing the catalogue of 
disagreeables of the trip home from the Sandwich 
Islands, by arriving on the coast in the most stormy 
month in the year. I landed fully convinced, that if 
Cape Horn is the longest way home it is not the 
most uncomfortable, that Mico mountain is far 
worse than a Cape Pillar blow, and a midnight ride 
through Chiquimula somewhat more wearisome than 
the home latitudes, though one may be ' homeward 
bound.' 



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